Chapter 55: Ecosystems and Restoration Ecology Flashcards
what do physical laws do
govern energy flow and chemical cycling in ecosystems
what processes do ecosystem dynamics involve
energy flow and chemical cycling
what is energy flow
- enters eco. as sunlight
- converted to chem energy by autotrophs
- passes heterotrophic as food
- dissipated as heat
what is chemical cycling
- carbon and ntirogen are passed between abiotic and nonbiotic components
- photosynthetic and chemosynthetic take the decomposed elements and incorporate it into organims cooumpo
- organic compounds are consumed by animals
- energy is recycled
what laws do ecosystems obey
thermodynamics and conservation of mass
what is the first law of thermodynamics
energy cannot be created or destroyed, only
transferred or transformed
what is the seond law of thermodynamics
every exchange of energy increases the
entropy (disorder) of the universe
what is the conservation of mass
matter cannot be created or destroyed
-
chemical elements are…
continually recycled
what are primary produces
autotrophs that build
organic molecules using either sunlight or
inorganic compounds as energy sources
what are heterotrophs
consumers that depend
directly or indirectly on production by
primary producers
herbivores are
primary consumers
second conusmers
Carnivores that eat herbivores ar
what is primary consumer
Herbivores are primary consumers; they
eat primary producers
what are tertiary consumer
Carnivores that eat other carnivores are
what are decomposers
heterotrophs that get their
energy from detritus, nonliving organic material
(such as remains of dead organisms, feces and
fallen leaves
what are the main decomposers
Prokaryotes and fungi a
What is primary production
amount of light energy converted to chemical energy
what is a chemoautotrophs
are organisms that can fix inorganic carbon using a chemical energy obtained
through the oxidation of reduced compounds
what does the total amount of photosynthetic production do
sets the spending limit for an eosystem’s energy budget
what limits photosynthetic output
amount of solar radiation
what is the total primary production
ecosystem’s gross primary production (
what is GPP
-gross primary production
- measured as the conversion of energy from light (or chemicals) to the chemical
energy of organic molecules per unit time
what is the NPP
like GPP but minus the energy for cellular respiration
- measure of total biomass accumulation
what does NeP do
determines whether an ecosystem gains/loses carbon over time
what is measured on land
CO2
light limitation
Depth of light penetration affects primary production
in the photic zone
where is the photic zone
top layer of an ocean or lake
what is nutrient limitation
- limit primary prodction in oceans and lajes
- element that must be added for production
what nutriens limit marine production
phosphorous and nitrogen
what does Nitrogen nH3
nutrients that limit phyloplankton’s growth in the ecosystem
what can limit production in terrestrial ecosystems
soil nutrients
Adding limiting nutrient
increase production
what is eutrophication
process where primary production increases as an ecosystem changes from nutrient-poor to nutrient rich
nutrients from where promote the growth of primary producers
sewage
how does excess nitrogen cause algae bloom
fertilizes phytoplankton
why do a large number of fish die
insufficient oxygen
what does phosphorus do to cyanobacterial growth in lakes
limits the growth; this is also why we have phosphate free detergens
what does cyanobacteria do to nutrients
promotes nutrient cycling
what affects primary prodcution in terrestrial ecosystems
temperature and moisture
what will increase npp
increase in temp and increase in the amount of solar energy
increase in precipitation
which is a good climate for production
warm/ moist
which climate is least productive
cold and dry
what production climate do temperate forests and grasslands have
moderate production
what predicts npp
evaptranspiration
what is evapotranspiration
water transferrred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil
why has npp been deleted
droughts in the southern hemisphere
what do hotter droughts lead to
increased forest fires and beetle outbreaks
what is the drought stress index
how greatly
trees are stressed by the condition
what is an energy pyramid
represents the loss of
energy with each transfer in a food chain
what is trophic efficiency
percentage of
production transferred from one trophic level to
the next
npp stand for
net product productivity
secondary production in cater pillars
stored energy will be used for cellular respiration and the rest in its feces
what range do birds and mammls have efficiencies in
1-3% bc of high cost of endothermy
