Cycling Of Matter In Ecosystems Flashcards
What are the four main Biogeochemical cycles?
Carbon, water, nitrogen, and phosphorus
What is: the movement of matter through the biotic and abiotic environment?
Biogeochemical cycle
What are the four steps in the water cycle?
- Water evaporates into vapour
- Rises and condenses into water droplets
- Droplets collect to form clouds, fall to earth as rain, snow
- Water enters lakes, oceans, soil, or groundwater and starts cycle over
What is: water taken by plant roots released by leaves?
Transpiration
What percent of the water on earth is saltwater?
97.5%
What percent of water on earth is freshwater?
2.5%
What percent of water on earth is ice caps or glaciers?
1.97%
What percent of earths water is groundwater?
0.5%
What percent of earths water is lakes, rivers, soil?
0.03%
What percent of earths water is atmosphere?
0.001%
What are the two key processes of the water cycle?
Evaporation and condensation
What does water perolate into soil and enter permeable rock to form?
An aquifer
What are three ways that man has affected the water cycle?
- Pollution of surface and groundwater
- Increased surface runoff through deforestation and urbanization
- Draining of wetlands = loss of animal habitats and increased soil erosion
In the carbon cycle what are two removals and three additions?
Removal
- Photosynthesis
- Dissolving in the world oceans
Addition
- Combustion
- Cellular respiration
- Decomposition
What form of carbon does air contain?
CO2
What is carbon an essential elements of building of?
Carbohydrates, proteins, and lipid molecules
What are three ways that carbon and CO2 are released?
- Organisms breakdown sugar molecules for energy and release carbon as waste
- Burning fossil feels and would release CO2
- Organisms die, carbon containing body to decompose by bacteria fungi and other decomposers and CO2 is released
Where is most of earths carbon stored? What are these called?
Stored in deposits such as coal, limestone, ocean sediments, etc. called carbon sinks
When do carbon sinks form?
When decomposed organisms are compressed over millions of years
What is the result of deforestation and burning fossil feels releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere?
Climate change
