Cycling of Matter Flashcards
Relate Which claims are true for all the organisms within a community? Select all correct answers.
A. They interact with each other.
B. They are part of the same population. C. They are found within the same biome. D. They have important roles in the same ecosystem.
E. They depend on the same biotic and abiotic factors.
A. They interact with each other.
C. They are found within the same biome. D. They have important roles in the same ecosystem.
Compare Which claims are most likely supported by the ecological pyramids for the two ecosystems described below? Select all correct answers.
Consider two unrelated stable ecosystems. Ecosystem A has roughly 10,000 kcal/m2 per year available for its primary consumers. Ecosystem B has only 5000 kcal/m2 per year available for its primary consumers but contains the same number of trophic levels as Ecosystem A.
A. Ecosystem A has a greater variety of species than Ecosystem B.
B. In Ecosystem A, the populations of predators will double the population of prey.
C. The trophic levels in Ecosystem A each contain half as many species as those in Ecosystem B.
D. Secondary consumers are not as well-supported in Ecosystem A as secondary consumers in Ecosystem B.
E. The amount of energy flowing from primary consumers to secondary consumers in Ecosystem A will be double that of Ecosystem B.
A. Ecosystem A has a greater variety of species than Ecosystem B.
E. The amount of energy flowing from primary consumers to secondary consumers in Ecosystem A will be double that of Ecosystem B.
Compare why food chains are less effective than food webs in modeling ecosystem stability. Select all correct answers.
A. Energy flow can be shown in a food web but not in a food chain.
B. Unlike in food webs, all organisms in a food chain are connected.
C. A food chain concisely shows how energy flows through a stable ecosystem. D. Many complex organism interactions in a stable ecosystem are excluded in a food chain.
E. A food chain disruption may not impact energy transfer in other food chains within the same stable ecosystem.
D. Many complex organism interactions in a stable ecosystem are excluded in a food chain.
E. A food chain disruption may not impact energy transfer in other food chains within the same stable ecosystem.
Classify Sort the organisms based on the given descriptions into four categories: carnivores, detritivores, herbivores, and omnivores.
- Zebras feed on grass and small plants.
- Sea turtles feed on corals, seaweed, and fish.
- Wasps feed on insects and plants.
- Penguins feed on fish.
- Worms feed on decaying roots and leaves.
Herbivores - Zebras feed on grass and small plants.
Omnivores - Sea turtles feed on corals, seaweed, and fish.
Wasps feed on insects and plants.
Carnivores - Penguins feed on fish.
Detritivores - Worms feed on decaying roots and leaves.
Contrast Select the best model to use to support or refute each of these claims. Choose from three models: biomass pyramid, energy pyramid, and pyramid of numbers.
- An ecosystem is not a closed system.
- Ecosystems support fewer complex organisms than simple organisms.
- Consumers obtain the energy they need from the trophic level immediately below them.
- The populations of producers are larger than the populations of secondary consumers.
- The amount of matter in living organisms at lower trophic levels is greater than at higher trophic levels.
energy pyramid
pyramid of numbers
energy pyramid
pyramid of numbers
biomass pyramid
Identify What happens to the matter that makes up an organism when it dies?
A. The matter is destroyed as the body decays.
B. The matter becomes trapped in the nonliving body.
C. The matter is converted into new types of matter by producers.
D. The matter is cycled back to the nonliving and living parts of the ecosystem.
D. The matter is cycled back to the nonliving and living parts of the ecosystem.
Analyze A community of plants produces 50,000 kcal/m2 per year of energy. The top predators in this ecosystem have only 5 kcal/m2 per year available for consumption. How many trophic levels does this ecosystem have?
There are 5 trophic levels.
Explain why is photosynthesis and cellular respiration important to the transfer of energy and matter on Earth. Explain your answer.
Photosynthesis captures and stores energy in glucose. While Cellular respiration releases this energy for organisms to use, they cycle energy and matter through ecosystems.
Describe how the use of fossil fuels by humans might affect the carbon cycle and the relative amount of carbon in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
Burning fossil fuels adds more CO2 to the atmosphere, This increases carbon in the air, affects the oceans, and changes the carbon balance in the ground and living things.
Summarize Justify the claim that all living organisms could be sorted into just three major categories: producer, consumer, and decomposer.
Producers create energy through photosynthesis, consumers eat other organisms for energy, and decomposers break down dead organisms.
Gazelles are herbivores that live on the grassy plains of Africa. How would a drought affect the food chain, energy pyramid, and carbon cycle within the ecosystem in which the gazelles live?
A drought reduces plant growth, starving gazelles and weakening predators. This impacts the food chain, the energy pyramid, and the carbon cycle.
evaluate the claim that Earth can be considered an open system and a closed system in terms of energy and matter.
Earth is open for energy received from sunlight, and heat out but closed for matter, as matter cycles within the planet.
Before the discovery of deep-sea thermal vent ecosystems, scientists thought all primary food sources in the deep ocean fell from the ocean surface. How did evidence of chemosynthetic organisms in these deep-sea ecosystems cause scientists to revise their understanding of how energy is produced in living systems?
The discovery of chemosynthetic organisms showed scientists that energy can be produced without sunlight, and this changed how scientist thought energy was produced in deep oceans
