Chapter III Biosphere and the Ecosystem Flashcards
describes an individual,
a single, living thing and can be an animal, a plant, or a microorganism.
Organism
The term we use to describe
multiple individuals or organisms
of a single species that live within
a particular geographic area.
Population
The term used to describe two or
more populations of different
species that occupy the same
space at the same time.
Community
The term used to describe both
the biotic (living) and abiotic
(nonliving) factors in a system
Ecosystem
The term used to describe organisms that occupy a certain area; determined by the primary vegetation type, the climate of the area, and the geographic location.
Biome
The term used to describe the
combination of every ecosystem
on the planet; all life on earth and the abiotic factors that life interacts with.
Biosphere
The term “ecosystem” was first coined by
A.G. Tansley, an English botanist, in 1935.
the functional unit of biosphere where the living organisms interact with each other and the surrounding environment.
ECOSYSTEM
ecosystem that are exclusively land-based ecosystems.
Terrestrial Ecosystem
There are different types of terrestrial ecosystems distributed
around various geological zones.
Forest Ecosystems
Grassland Ecosystems
Tundra Ecosystems
Desert Ecosystem
consists of several plants, animals and microorganisms that live in coordination with the abiotic factors of the environment;
temperate zones may have a flora of coniferous type, deciduous type or a combination of both the types.
Forest Ecosystem
The classification is as per the respective climate of forest ecosystem
– boreal, temperate or tropical.
tropics have the most diverse plant and animal ecosystem than any other region on the earth. Here, trees grow tall and foliage is dense and lush with a warm and humid environment, with species right from the root level up till the canopy.
Rainforest ecosystems
featured in the far north, with a rich population of the coniferous trees, known as the taiga.
Boreal forests
The vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbs; They can exist in colder regions as well (Siberian Steppe) and share a common characteristic: semi-aridity.
Grassland ecosystem
some of the examples of grassland ecosystems.
Temperate grasslands, savanna grasslands
ecosystem that are devoid of trees and are found in cold climates or where rainfall is scarce; covered with snow for most of the year; soil is frozen throughout the year and during the brief summers, snow melts to produce shallow ponds, thus giving rise to small
flowers and lichens.
Tundra ecosystem
These are regions with very
little rainfall. The days are hot and the nights are cold; Some contain rocks while some have sand dunes. Flora is very rare but highly adaptive animal species and insects are found here.
Desert
are ecosystems present in a body of water
Aquatic Ecosystem
Aquatic Ecosystem are divided into two types, namely:
freshwater and marine ecosystem
includes lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and wetlands; No salt content in contrast with the marine ecosystem. They embody planktons, algae, insects, amphibians and underwater plants.
Freshwater Ecosystem
includes seas and oceans,
have a more substantial salt content and greater biodiversity in
comparison to the freshwater ecosystem.
(tidal zones, salt marshes,
estuaries, saltwater swamps, coral reef, mangroves etc.)
Marine Ecosystem
are the multitude of benefits that nature provides to society (FAO,
2021) and making people aware of these benefits may encourage
them to design better habitat management (Richards et al., 2017).
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem Services (biodiversity and ecosystem functions support)
Provisioning services (goods)
Cultural services
Regulating services
Supporting services
human well-being
Organisms in an ecosystem interact with one another. One way that individuals in a community interact is by feeding on one another.
Food webs
(from the Greek word
trephein, meaning to nourish, thus the “nourishing level”) consists of all
organisms in a food web that are the same number of feeding levels away from the original energy source.
Tropic level
The original source of energy in most ecosystems is
Sun
Green plants, algae, and certain bacteria produce sugars through
the process of photosynthesis, using only energy from the
sun and carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the air.
Autotrophs
from the words auto
(self) and trephein (to nourish), thus “self-nourishing”
Autotrophs
organisms that feed on plants, algae, or photosynthetic bacteria—are members of the second trophic level.
Herbivores
meat- eaters, that feed directly on herbivores make up the third trophic level. Carnivores that feed on third- level carnivores are in the fourth trophic level, and so on.
Carnivores
Those that feed on both plant and
animals are the
Omnivores
those that feed on dead
organic material, are classified in the highest trophic level in an
ecosystem.
Decomposers
