Ecology

Question 1

What is photosynthesis?

Answer 1

conversion of carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and ATP

Question 2

What is chemosynthesis?

Answer 2

conversion of carbon into sugar and nutrients. They use methane and sulfides and hydrogen instead of light.

Question 3

What is the first thermodynamic law?

Answer 3

Energy is neither created nor destroyed only transferred from system to system.

Question 4

What is the second thermodynamic law?

Answer 4

during energy transfer 90% of the energy is lost via heat.

Question 5

What do the arrows signify in a food web/chain?

Answer 5

Energy transfer

Question 6

What is a food web?

Answer 6

connection of multiple food chains to show a more accurate transfer of energy.

Question 7

What is a population?

Answer 7

same species, same places, same time

Question 8

What is a community?

Answer 8

Multiple species, same place, same time

Question 9

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 9

Multiple species biotic and abiotic, same place, same time.

Question 10

What are the three pyramids to show the ecology?

Answer 10

Pyramid of numbers: population size at each trophic level
Biomass: Sample of total dry mass of living things at each trophic level.
Energy: energy found at each trophic level

Question 11

What is biotic potential?

Answer 11

max. offspring if you had unlimited resources.

Question 12

What regulates biotic potential?

Answer 12

Birth potential: max. number of babies
Capacity for survival: # that reach reproductive age
Breading frequency: # of times per year
Length of Reproductive life: age of reproductive maturity and # of years of fertility.

Question 13

What are the biggest biological regulators?

Answer 13

Water, which regulates the amount of autotrophs and energy at the bottom.
Temperature= energy

Question 14

What is density dependant?

Answer 14

factors within ecosystem that affects a population because of density
Ex) food, water

Question 15

What is density independant?

Answer 15

factors with ecosystem that affects a population regardless of density
Ex) natural disasters

Question 16

What are biogeochemical cycles?

Answer 16

Pathway of chemicals through the biotic and abiotic components of the biosphere .

Question 17

What is the water cycle entail?

Answer 17

Evaporation: liquid to gas
Transpiration: plant sweat water vapour
Condensation: gas to liquid
Precipitation: rain, sleet, hail, snow
Infiltration: water soaks into soil
Peculation: water drains into the ground water reservoirs.

Question 18

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Answer 18

Nitrogen fixation: drawing of N2 into the soil via rhizobium in legume roots.
Ammonification: converting of N2 into NH4 Nitrification: converting of NH4 into NO3 and NO4
Assimilation: into plants biology plants are eaten by predator
Decomposition: the N2 is returned to cycle
Denitrification: NO4 and NO3 back into N2

Question 19

What is acid deposition?

Answer 19

nitrogen or sulfur components are in the atmosphere creating acid precipitation

Question 20

What is the phosphorus cycle?

Answer 20

Geo/ slow cycling: sediment in lakes turns to rock -> Geological uplifting: rising of sediment-> rock is weathered and P4 runs off into soil.
Bio/rapid cycling: plants use phosphorus -> animals eat it-> they die and decomposers return the phosphorus into the soil.

Question 21

What are algal blooms and what causes them?

Answer 21

algae grows out of control to top of lake blocking out light and oxygen killing everything below the surface. Algal blooms are caused by nutrient excess commonly via fertilizer runoff.

Question 22

What does the carbon cycle entail?

Answer 22

Plants use photosynthesis to take in CO2 and release O2.
The animals use cellular respiration to take in O2 and release CO2…
Combustion from factories also releases CO2

Question 23

What are some human uses for ecosystems?

Answer 23

Hunting and fishing: wildlife management
potential to increase biodiversity
short term gain vs. long term ecological collapse

Agriculture and Monocultures: decrease in biodiversity
We used to farm 700 species now only 20
Soil depletion

Question 24

What are stromatolites?

Answer 24

layers of cyanobacteria, which is evidence of photosynthetic organisms and the history

Question 25

What are ice cores?

Answer 25

evidence of past climate, and air content

Question 26

What is albedo?

Answer 26

amount of reflection