Chapter 55 Lecture Flashcards
The bacteria of “Blood Falls” in Antarctica are what kind of organisms?
CHEMOAUTOTROPHS
In ecosystems, why is the term “cycling” used to describe material transfer, whereas the term “flow” is used for energy exchange?
MATERIALS are recycled
&
ENERGY flows through and out of the ecosystem
Which statement most accurately describes how matter and energy are used in ecosystems?
MATTER is cycled through ecosystems,
ENERGY is not
The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created, yet matter is sometimes gained or lost toan ecosystem.
What is the reason for this seeming contradiction?
MATTER can be moved in/out of an ecosystem from/to another ecosystem.
PHOTOSYNTHETIC ORGANISMS are unique to most ecosystems because they…
use LIGHT energy to synthesize ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
A cow’s HERBIVOROUS diet indicates that it is a(n)…
PRIMARY CONSUMER
To recycle nutrients, an ecosystem must have, at a minimum;
PRODUCERS & DECOMPOSERS
Which of the following term encompasses all of the others?
heterotrophs, herbivores, carnivores, primary consumers, secondary consumers
HETEROTROPHS
Many homeowners mow their lawns during the summer and collect the clippings, which are then hauled to the local landfill. What action would most benefit the suburban ecosystem?
Collect the lawn clippings and add them to a compost pile, don’t collect the clippings and let them decompose into the lawn, or apply composted clippings to the lawn.
(but what are the boundaries of the ‘suburban ecosystem’?)
Which of the following is an example of an ECSYSTEM?
INTERACTIONS between all of the organisms and their physical environment in a tropical rain forest
If the sun were to suddenly stop providing energy to Earth, most ecosystems would vanish. Which ecosystem would most likely survive the longest after this hypothetical disaster?
BENTHIC OCEAN
What is true about DETRIVORES?
They convert organic materials from all trophic levels to INORGANIC compounds that are usable by primary producers.
The major role of DETRIVORES in ecosystems is to…
recycle chemical nutrients to a form capable of being used by autotrophs
(this consequently prevents build up of dead organic matter)
Approximately 1% of the solar radiation that strikes a plant is converted into the chemical bond energy of sugars. Why is this amount so low?
because only 1% of the wavelengths of visible light are absorbed by photosynthetic pigments.
What percentage of solar radiation striking a plant is converted into chemical energy?
1%
