Ecology - From plankton to tuna Flashcards
How much NPP is captured through Photosynthesis per yr?
1000g c/m2/y
How much NPP is used through respiration per yr?
250g c/m2/y
What type of production does algae (plants) perform?
autotroph through photosynthesis = photo-autotroph
What type of production does bacteria perform?
autotroph through photosynthesis = photo-autotroph
OR
autotroph through chemosynthesis = chemo-autotroph
OR
heterotroph (so no primary production)
chemosynthesis
the synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.
What type of production does archaea and some bacteria perform?
autotroph through chemosynthesis = chemo-autotroph
Examples of consumers that are heterotroph
- grazers (e.g. copepoda, snails, sea urchins)
- Predators (e.g. fish, seals)
- scavengers (aaseters. e.g. crabs, snails)
- Filter-feeders (e.g. mussels, corals, koker worms)
- deposit feeders (e.g. worms, snails)
Reducers (decomposters) information
- heterotroph
- mostly bacteria and molds
- break down dead organic material
- makes nutrients available for primary production
anaerobic bacteria in anoxic situations
use sulfate (example)
sulfate use equation for anaerobic bacteria
C6H12O6 (Glucose –> sugar) + 2O4ˆ2- (Sulfate) –> CO2 (carbon dioxide) + H2S (hydrogen sulfide)
Trophic dynamic
the interactions in an area of food in an ecosystem
consumers carnivore trophic lvl
level 3+
consumers herbivores trophic lvl
level 2
producers trophic lvl
level 1
equation for determining the TL of an organism
TL Organism = 1 + TL Food
decomposers trophic lvl
they decompose dead material out of all TL’s. Therefore, they do not have a TL
food chain
a linear schematic representation of the trophic interactions in an ecosystem
Grazing and detrius food chain according to pinet
in reality, the food chains are not separate to each other, but form a web
foodweb
schematic representation of the trophic interactions in an ecosystem.
Problem with the foodchain/web
many organisms feed on multiple trophic levels
solution to the problem with the foodchain/web
work with fractions (shared for the foodsource)
e.g.
TL = 1 + (TLp1 * Fp1 + TLp2 * Fp2)
Food Piramid
schematic representation of trophic interactions in an ecosystem and the relative amount of energy which represents a layer.
biomassa
amount of living matter per surface area or unit volume
with each higher TL, what happens?
- larger organisms
- lower reproduction speed
- less population numbers
- lower total biomass
why does the amount of energy and mass between TL’s decrease?
- not all biomass is eaten
- not all biomass is digested (e.g. energy use in forming bones, shells, etc.)
- a lot of energy is used in maintenance (e.g. movement and growth)
transfer efficiency
efficiency of carbon transfer. A certain amount of carbon is used for growth in following TL’s. Use 10% for calculations (between 10-20% is used for transfer)
cases wadden sea: shrimp
low shrimp catch in spring/summer of 2015 +16
cases wadden sea: eidereenden
high mortality in winter 2000
cases wadden sea: mussels
good mussel breeding after a severe winter
