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General Ecology > Ecosystem Ecology > Flashcards

Ecosystem Ecology Flashcards

1
Q

What is needed to maintain complex biological life?

A

constant input of energy

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2
Q

Nutrients can partially

A

be recycled indefinetly

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3
Q

What is sustainable harvesting?

A

over time, tree population reaches a stable age (or stage) distribution after which population growth either stabilizes, declines, or increases

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4
Q

How much of the world’s energy does the US use?

A

19%

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5
Q

When building, what is most energy used for?

A

space heating/cooling and water heating

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6
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

biological community plus abiotic factors

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7
Q

What is the main focus of ecosystem ecology?

A

the study of energy flow and mineral cycling

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8
Q

What is autotroph?

A

captures energy and carbon from inorganic sources

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9
Q

What is photosynthesis?

A

captures energy from light to build carbon compounds

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10
Q

What is chemosynthesis?

A

uses energy from inorganic sources to build carbon compounds

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11
Q

What are primary producers examples

A

photosynthetic plants and algae

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12
Q

What is respiration?

A

releases energy from chemicals for use in sustaining life

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13
Q

What type of organism captures energy from inorganic sources?

A

autotrophs

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14
Q

What happens to solar energy if refelcted?

A

lost

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15
Q

What happens to solar energy is absorbed and released as heat?

A

lost

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16
Q

What happens to solar energy for gross primary production (GPP)?

A

absorbed and potentially used to sustain life

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17
Q

What happens to solar energy for autotrophic respiration (Ra)?

A

lost

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18
Q

What is Net primary productivity (NPP) available for?

A

growth

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19
Q

What is Odum’s Sankey Diagrams?

A

arrows show direction and magnitude of flows and cycles in ecosystem

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20
Q

What is the first law of thermodynamics?

A

in a closed system, energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form

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21
Q

What is the second law of thermodynamics?

A

due to losses of energy as heat during reactions, closed systems increase in disorder (entropy) over time

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22
Q

What is needed to sustain order (complexity)?

A

external energy

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23
Q

What do the laws of thermodynamics demonstrate?

A

that life on Earth is only sustainable due to the energy input of the sun

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24
Q

Where does all energy and carbon originate?

A

in the primary producer

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25
Q

What do energy relationships determine?

A

how much land area is needed for such things as heating energy, food, and waste handling capacity of ecosystems

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26
Q

What is ecological footprint?

A

the area of land needed to sustainable support food and fiber, timber and paper, livestock, etc

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27
Q

What is the ecological footprint calculated to be?

A

1.5x area of earth

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28
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

movement of carbon among ecosystem compartments (living and nonliving entities)

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29
Q

What is primary productivity often measured in?

A

biomass

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30
Q

What does below ground NPP contribute to?

A

long term carbon storage (source or sink) in soils

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31
Q

What type of reaction is Photosynthesis (GPP)?

A

endergonic (endothermic)

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32
Q

What are endergonic reactions used for in photosynthesis?

A

to capture energy and build carbohydrates from inorganic carbon

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33
Q

What type of reaction is respiration (R)?

A

exergonic (exothermic) reactions used

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34
Q

What are exergonic reactions used for?

A

to release energy from organic compounds such as carbohydrates

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35
Q

In stable situations what does GPP equal?

A

R

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36
Q

In stable situations, what does NPP equal?

A

zero

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37
Q

Ordinarily, what does GPP equal?

A

> R

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38
Q

Ordinarily, what does NPP equal?

A

positive

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39
Q

How are GPP and R measured in plants?

A

using gas exchange chambers that measure CO2 in and out or by monitoring atmospheric CO2 flux in natural settings

40
Q

What do contour plots show?

A

CO2 levels at different heights across time

41
Q

Where is CO2 highest at night?

A

near soil surave

42
Q

Where are CO2 levels lowest during day?

A

throughout the forest canopy in the day

43
Q

What dominates at night?

A

Rh and releases carbon

44
Q

What dominates during the day?

A

GPP dominates and absorbs carbon

45
Q

When is CO2 highest season?

A

formant seasons

46
Q

What dominates in dormant season?

A

Rh

47
Q

When is CO2 lowest season?

A

growing season

48
Q

What dominates in growing season?

A

GPP

49
Q

If overall NPP is positive, ecosystem is acting as

A

a carbon sink

50
Q

Generally, what serves as significant carbon sinks?

A

rapidly growing (middle aged) forests

51
Q

What are the main aquatic primary producers?

A

phytoplankton and macrophages

52
Q

What is phytoplankton biomass like and why

A

low biomass (standing crop) because have rapid turnover

53
Q

What do light and dark bottle technique measure?

A

dissolved O2 (DO; released by photosynthesis, or absorbed by respiration)

54
Q

What does change in light bottle DO measure?

A

NPP

55
Q

What does change in dark bottle DO measure?

A

Re

56
Q

What happens with changes in depth in ocean?

A

Re tends to change little with depth wheras GPP falls off drantically at deeper zones

57
Q

Some ____ occurs at very shallow depths

A

photoinhibition

58
Q

What is the compensation point?

A

depth at which GPP = Re and NPP is zero

59
Q

What limits productivity in aquatic ecosytems?

A

nutrients such as silica

60
Q

Where is ocean productivity highest?

A

in zones of upwelling that bring nutrients up into the photic zone (zone of light penetration)

61
Q

What limits productivity in terrestrial ecosystems?

A

the interaction of temp and precipitation

62
Q

How are global patterns in NPP estimated?

A

using NASA earth observing system terra

63
Q

Where are seasonal cycles of CO2 higher?

A

in northern hemisphere (and in sync with global cycles)

64
Q

What must correctly calculating energy yield of both biofuels take into account?

A

all forms of energy used to produce itWha

65
Q

When is ideal biofuel?

A

carbon negative (or neutral) and grown on marginal lands not needed for other purposes

66
Q

What is secondary productivity?

A

the rate at which heterotrophs build new biomass from existing organic matter

67
Q

What does secondary productivity correlate with?

A

NPP, but wide variation among sites

68
Q

Is energy transfer of secondary productivity efficient or inefficient?

A

inefficient

69
Q

What is detritus?

A

trash or debris

70
Q

What may be required for digesting plant biomass?

A

symbiotic mutualist in the gut

71
Q

What is assimilation efficiency?

A

extracted from food and available to do work

72
Q

What is ecological stoichiometry?

A

animals get better when the C:N and C:P ratios of food match the ratios in their own bodies

73
Q

What is PE like in ectotherms?

A

tend to have higher PE values than endotherms

74
Q

What is PE like in endotherms?

A

have much lower field metabolic rate (use 30x less energy)

75
Q

What is PE like in carnivores?

A

have higher PE values than herbivores due to less efficient digestion of plant material

76
Q

Do smaller or larger animals have higher metabolic rates?

A

smaller

77
Q

What do detritivores and decomposers consume?

A

dead organic material

78
Q

What is variation in consumption efficiency in herbivores like?

A

highest in ecosystems where plants are easy to digest and nutrient rich

79
Q

How is variation in detrital pathways in forests?

A

much energy locked up in wood and leaves, most NPP enters food chain via the detrital pathway

80
Q

How is variation in detrital pathway in streams?

A

typically high detrital input from terrestrial system sustains much of the secondary productivity

81
Q

How is variation in Odum’s Silver Springs?

A

low detrital input and exports

82
Q

How is NPP compared to Re in autotrophic ecosystems?

A

NPP>Re

83
Q

How is NPP compared to Re in heterotrophic ecosystems?

A

NPP < Re

84
Q

What do autotrophic ecosystems do?

A

add biomass on their own

85
Q

What do heterotropic ecosystems require?

A

external inputs to maintain biomass

86
Q

What are energy pyramids like in grasslands?

A

relatively high trophic efficiency supports top carnivore biomass (biomass and numbers graph also pyramidal)

87
Q

What are energy pyramids like in forests?

A

relatively low trophic efficiency supports lower top carnivore biomass (biomass graph with small top level, numbers graph with small base = few large trees)

88
Q

What are energy pyramids like in open ocean?

A

high turnover rates of plants, herbivores, and carnivores supports high top carnivore biomass (biomass graph is inverted pyramid, numbers graph with narrowed base)

89
Q

Where is most calories from in human consumption?

A

plants or herbivores; exception is carnivorous fish

90
Q

What is human consumption compared to estimated biocapacity?

A

twice that

91
Q

What are types of ecosystem services?

A

provisioning, regulating, cultural, supporting

92
Q

Low NPP coupled with high consumption rates leads to

A

high global variation in proportion of NPP consumed

93
Q

What are city ecosystems like?

A

“heterotrophic” ecosystems that rely on NPP input

94
Q

What are petal diagrams used for?

A

used to illustrate values or relative importance of different ecosystem services

95
Q

What is the tragedy of commons?

A

areas or things not held by strict ownership rights are more likely to be exploited

General Ecology (16 decks)

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