Chapter 55 - Ecosystems and Restoration Ecology Flashcards
ecosystem
All the organism in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; one or more communities and the physical environment around them.
law of conservation of mass
A physical law stating that matter can change form but cannot be created or destroyed. In a closed system, the mass of the system is constant.
primary producers
An autotroph, usually a photosynthetic organism. Collectively, autotrophs make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately supports all other levels.
primary consumer
An herbivore; an organism that eats plants or other autotrophs.
secondary consumer
A carnivore that eats herbivores.
tertiary consumer
A carnivore that eats other carnivores.
detritivore
A consumer that derives its energy and nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organisms; a decomposer.
detritus
Dead organic matter.
primary production
The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy (organic compounds) by the autotrophs in an ecosystem during a given time period.
gross primary production (GPP)
The total primary production of an ecosystem.
net primary production (NPP)
The gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by the producers for respiration.
net ecosystem production (NEP)
The gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by all autotrophs and heterotrophs
limiting nutrient
An element that must be added for production to increase in a particular area.
eutrophication
A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria.
secondary production
The amount of chemical energy in consumers’ food that is converted to their own new biomass during a given time period.
