Ecology Flashcards
What is photosynthesis?
conversion of carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and ATP
What is chemosynthesis?
conversion of carbon into sugar and nutrients. They use methane and sulfides and hydrogen instead of light.
What is the first thermodynamic law?
Energy is neither created nor destroyed only transferred from system to system.
What is the second thermodynamic law?
during energy transfer 90% of the energy is lost via heat.
What do the arrows signify in a food web/chain?
Energy transfer
What is a food web?
connection of multiple food chains to show a more accurate transfer of energy.
What is a population?
same species, same places, same time
What is a community?
Multiple species, same place, same time
What is an ecosystem?
Multiple species biotic and abiotic, same place, same time.
What are the three pyramids to show the ecology?
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
What is biotic potential?
max. offspring if you had unlimited resources.
What regulates biotic potential?
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.
What are the biggest biological regulators?
Water, which regulates the amount of autotrophs and energy at the bottom.
Temperature= energy
What is density dependant?
factors within ecosystem that affects a population because of density
Ex) food, water
What is density independant?
factors with ecosystem that affects a population regardless of density
Ex) natural disasters
What are biogeochemical cycles?
Pathway of chemicals through the biotic and abiotic components of the biosphere .
What is the water cycle entail?
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.
What is the nitrogen cycle?
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
What is acid deposition?
nitrogen or sulfur components are in the atmosphere creating acid precipitation
What is the phosphorus cycle?
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.
What are algal blooms and what causes them?
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.
What does the carbon cycle entail?
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
What are some human uses for ecosystems?
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
What are stromatolites?
layers of cyanobacteria, which is evidence of photosynthetic organisms and the history
What are ice cores?
evidence of past climate, and air content
What is albedo?
amount of reflection
