Ecosystem Ecology Flashcards
1
Q
the unit composed of all the living things in a single place at a given time, in addition to, the important non-living components of the system.
A
Ecosystem
2
Q
encompasses all aspects of a biological community, in addition to factors such as rates of CO2 uptake, rates of nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere, precipitation, seasonal flooding and its effects on nutrients, etc.
A
Ecosystem
3
Q
the largest and most encompassing ecosystem we know-it encompasses all the plants and animals on Earth.
A
Biosphere
4
Q
Like communities, small ecosystems are “stacked” within larger ones, and the boundaries are sometimes diffuse.
A
Word!
5
Q
Much of this discipline concerns itself with the flow of energy and biomass.
A
Ecoosystems Ecology
6
Q
These two things are common to all biological communities
A
Nutrient Cycling and Energy Flow
7
Q
The complex matrix of interactions among members of a community expends energy, as well as passing it from one member to the next through…
A
Trophic Interactions
8
Q
Likewise, biomass is constantly recycled through these 4 things
A
Production, Predation, Herbivory, and Decomposition
9
Q
The ultimate energy source for almost every ecosystem on earth.
A
The sun
10
Q
These are a partial exception-(they rely on geothermal energy, but still depend upon oxygen fixed by photosynthetic organisms).
A
Hydrothermal Vent Communities
11
Q
Energy enters ecosystems via this process
A
Photosynthesis (or, in a few exotic excosystems, chemosynthesis).
12
Q
Organisms that bring energy into an ecosystem are called
A
Producers
13
Q
Include green plants, algae, cyanobacteria, etc..anything that can make its own energy from nonliving components of the environment.
A
Producers
14
Q
All metabolic processes consume energy in some way, and in each reaction, much of it is effectively “wasted”…
A
Ch’ya
15
Q
Why are humans homeothermic? (Why do we generate our own heat?)
A
The wasted heat from metabolic processes, mostly as molecular motion, warms our bodies.
16
Q
Ultimately, all biological energy radiates into the environment as
A
Infrared Light
17
Q
a by-product of respiration
A
Infrared Light
18
Q
Much energy is lost every time it passes from one trophic level to the next
A
True dat!
19
Q
Does energy recycle on Earth?
A
No, it is continually replenished from the sun
20
Q
Recycles through ecosystems
A
Matter
21
Q
Atoms of every biologically important element constantly recycle through ecosystems, into the abiotic component of the biosphere, and back into living systems.
A
Word
22
Q
How are elements passed from one organism to another?
A
Trophic Interactions
OR they are taken from the environment
23
Q
Process that causes nonliving elements to have the potential to re-enter the atmosphere again
A
Decomposition
24
Q
The path an element takes as it moves from abiotic systems through producers, consumers, and decomposers and back again
A
Biogeochemical Cyclye (life-Earth-chemical)
25
a schematic diagram that describes the trophic interactions in a community and documents energy flow
Food Web
26
also a trophic interaction that uses up the energy left over in dead bodies of organisms.
Decomposition
27
one path through a food web, from bottom to top.
Food Chain
28
Because energy is lost at each step, food chains have a limited number of links.
Yup!
29
defined as the weight of living matter (usually measured in dry weight per unit area).
Biomass
30
a figure that quantifies the relative amounts of living biomass found at each trophic level.
Pyramid of Biomass
31
In most ecosystems, the amount of biomass found in each trophic level increases or decreases progressively as one moves from the bottom to the top of the food chain?
Decreases
32
The most important producers vary from ecosystem to ecosystem.
OKOK
33
In cold-water marine systems, for instance, it may be a mixture of photosynthetic haplophytes, diatoms, and dinoflagellates.
Producers vary from ecosystem to ecosystem
34
Northern coniferous forests typically have a few dominant species of trees, such a pine, spruce, hemlock, cedar.
Tropical rain forests may support hundreds of species of trees.
Producers vary from ecosystem to ecosystem
35
Producer from ancient ecosystem that is a horsetail which formed colossal forests
Lepidodendron
36
Producer from ancient ecosystem which is a seed fern that covered vast continents
Glossopteris
37
Producer from an ancient ecosystem that is an enigmatic seed ferm or gymnosperm that dominated during the breakup of Pangea
Dicrodium
38
Producers- Spirulinia sp.,
| Sea kelp, Ancient trees
Examples of producers
39
Primary consumers eat..
Producers
40
Do they possess more or less biomass than producers?
Less
41
In most ecosystems only a small amount of producer biomass is eaten (plants have evolved numerous mechanisms to protect tissues from consumption)
Cool
42
Why does a loss of biomass occur between trophic levels?
Digestive inefficiences and the return of CO2 to the atmosphere via cellular respiration
43
Assimilation efficiencies for most terrestrial herbivores range from
20-60%
44
These consume primary consumers.
| These consume secondary consumers
Secondary Consumers
| Tertiary consumers
45
Who has higher assimilation efficiences, carnivores or herbivores?
Carnivores (50-90 percent)
46
So why does only a small amount of assimilated energy become biomass in carnivores?
Used towards metabolic energy needs of body maintenance, growth, reproduction, and locomotion
47
Ankylosaur, pipevine swallow tail, and barrel cactai adapt to avoid participating in trophic transfer
Woo!
48
How many levels do food chains have typically?
Four or five
49
Less biomass occurs at higher trophic levels because
There is less energy available to consumers
50
an organism that exists on the top of several or all food chains in the ecosystem
may feed at various trophic levels, but ultimately, nothing (except parasites) eats them
Apex Predators
51
They are a reflection of the ecosystem as a whole-low productivity environments support fewer and less-impressive apex predators
Word!
52
For instance, fossil localities in arid environments do not have Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. We can infer that abundant hervivores, and extensive vegetation, were necessary to support populations of this species.
YEA! some examples:
Liopleurodon ferox,
Tyrannosaurus rex,
Dunkleosteus terreli
53
are organisms that eat dead organic matter
Decomposers
Scavengers,
Saprophytes
Detrivores
54
eat the dead bodies of living things, such as carrion, leaf litter, etc
Detrivores
55
are animals that eat dead animals. Most apex predators also do this
Scavengers
56
microscopic organisms that break down organic compounds into nonliving, inorganic precursors.
Decomposers
57
organisms that feed on dead organic matter, this term is usually applied to fungi or bacteria, but there are plant ones as well
Saprophytes
58
the amount of biomass produced through photosynthesis per unit area and time by producers.
Primary Productivity
59
It is usually expressed in units of energy (e.g., joules /m2 day) or in units of dry organic matter (e.g., kg /m2 year).
Primary productiviy
60
Globally, primary production amounts to how much dry plant biomass per year.?
243 billion metric tons
61
The total energy fixed by plants in a community through photosynthesis is referred to as
Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)
62
Most gross primary productivity is used via respiration by the producers themselves.
Okay
63
Subtracting respiration from gross primary production gives
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
64
represents the rate of production of biomass that is available for consumption (herbivory) by heterotrophic organisms (bacteria, fungi, and animals). It is also easier to measure, because it tends to accumulate over time.
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
65
Globally, patterns of primary productivity vary both spatially and temporally
OK..
66
The least productive ecosystems are limited by heat energy, nutrients and water like the deserts and the polar tundra.
The most productive ecosystems have high temperatures, plenty of water and lots of available soil nitrogen.
Oh.
67
Productivity is high in areas of
Oceanic Upwelling
68
Oceanic producers include
Diatoms, dinoflagellates crptomonads, and other algae that require nutrients
69
Each biologically important element has a
Nutrient Cycle
70
the path of an element from one organism to another, and from organisms into the nonliving part of the biosphere and back
Nutrient Cycle
71
Another way to refer to a nutrient cycle that reflects the fact that chemicals are cycled between biological organisms, and between organisms and the geologic (physical) environment.
Biogeochemical Cycle
72
The non-living forms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen form huge ones of these in the physical environment
Reservoirs
73
For example, how much of the atmosphere does Nitrogen (N2) make up?
78%
74
A supply of a biologically meaningful element that is not easily obtainable by living organisms.
Elements can have multiple of them
Reservoirs
75
This biogeochemical cycle has reservoirs in the ocean, also in freshwater lakes and underground aquifers
Driven by energy transfer from the sun, evaporation over oceans and rainfall over oceans and continental interiors
Water
76
This biogeochemical cycle element has reservoirs in the atmosphere, also in fossil deposits, soil, marine sediments
Driven by plate tectonics and biological processes
Carbon
77
Biogeochemical cycle that has reservoirs in the atmosphere, driven by lightning and vulcanism, also by activities of nitrogen fixing microbes and dentrifying microbes
Nitrogen
78
Biogeochemical cycle that has reservoirs of rocks and minerals, driven by erosion but also by the mass movement and decomposition of animals like salmon
Phophorus
79
Makes up the bulk of most living things-it is the primary constituent of biomass, but is relatively scarce in the nonliving part of the Eart
Carbon
80
Exists in non-living environment as carbon dioxide, dissolved carbon dioxide (HCO3, etc) in the ocean, and it carbonates the Earth's crusts
Furthermore, is locked in fossil deposits and embedded in the ocean floor as deposits of methane anhydride
Carbon
81
While carbon makes up less than 1% of the atmosphere, it is very important in the biosphere.
Ok
82
means capture and conversion to a biologically useful form.
| Eg., water does not need to be “fixed”, neither does sodium, but carbon and nitrogen do.
Fixation
83
This molecule is fixed by plants during photosynthesis
CO2
84
CO2,. once fixed during photosynthesis, is converted into these molecules by combining it with water.
organic carbohydrates
85
Once fixed, how does CO2 pass through the food chain? Up or Down? How?
Up, through herbivory and predation
86
Most organisms, including plants, do this process which liberates carbon back into the atmosphere and provides energy to the organism
Respiration
87
After respiration, CO2 enters the atmosphere. If not eaten and respired, or decomposed, what might happen to organic carbon?
My become buried and enter a carbon reservoir in the soil and ultimately fossilize
88
This element can return to the atmosphere if plant material is burned, naturally or through human activities
Carbon
89
Ancient plant and animal material with carbon was fixed and turned into this which returns carbon to the atmosphere when burned
Fossil fuels
90
This element can also be recycled back into the atmosphere through volcanic activity
When a tectonic plate goes underneath a continent, superheated oceanic material upgasses through geological vents and reenters the atmosphere
Carbon
91
Why does CO2 have a crucial role in the climate of earth in terms of light properties?
1. It is quite transparent to light at visible wavelengths
| 2. It is relatively opaque to infrared light
92
Gasses with the CO2 light properties that tend to trap heat and force a higher equilibrium vapor pressure
Greenhouse Gasses
93
Most important greenhouse gas because it occurs at higher concentrations
CO2
94
Low CO2=?
| High CO2=
Low global temperatures
| High global temperatures
95
In the Miocene, 15 million years ago, a sudden increase in CO2 caused
a sudden warming of the climate
96
What does evidence show is the cause of increased CO2 concentrations over the last 150 years?
Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation
97
When was fossilized carbon fossilized?
During the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago
98
Why is the surface temperature of Venus so hot?
The Greenhouse Effect
99
What does this suggest about Venus' climate in the past?
Venus had a much more earthlike climate, but its oceans evaporated
100
Three changes we might already be seeing in our world
Sea Ice melting
Local changes in climate
Possible acidification of the Oceans
101
One of the most common elements that form biological molecules.
It is a major component of amino acids, also a primary constituent of nucleic acids.
Nitrogen
102
What makes N2 a very stable molecule and biologically inert?
The triple bond
103
A large amount of energy is required to break this bond
N2 (triple bond)
104
Lightning is responsible for converting the molecule in the atmosphere into forms that organisms can use
Nitrogen
105
The process of converting atmospheric nitrogen into forms that organisms can use is called
Nitrogen Fixation
106
Some free-living soil bacteria as well as some blue-green bacteria in the genera Anabaena and Nostoc have the ability to convert nitrogen into ammonia, including...
genera Rhizobium
| Bradyhyzobium
107
Nitrogen is also fixed by symbiotic bacteria that live in and among the root cells of several types of plants, including this plants which have root nodules
Legume plants (beans, peanuts, peas)
108
Other plants, have nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria like the..
Cycads
109
Decomposed compounds of nitrogen become...
Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrite
110
The process that nitrogen in organisms is converted to ammonia, nitrates, and nitrite is
Ammonification
111
These convert nitrites and nitrates in the soil to N2O and N2, which returns to the reservoir in the atmosphere.
Dentrifiers
112
The process which completes the nitrogen cycle, is
Dentrification
113
is one of the most important processes to living organisms on Earth.
Has evaporated into the atmosphere condenses and falls as precipitation
Water Cycle
114
precipitation will either run off as surface water and collect as streams or rivers, or it can seep into the ground and collect in huge underground rock formations called
Aquifers
115
The water eventually flows from lakes or streams down into the oceans, where it can reside for long periods of time, or get evaporated back up into the atmosphere as water vapor, which collects as
Clouds
116
A portion of the groundwater is taken up by plants and used for solute transport, metabolism, and structural support-it is continuously lost to the atmosphere by
Transpiration
117
Herbivores may also pass water up food chains
Alright
