Ecosystem Ecology

Question 1

ecosystem

Answer 1

all the biotic and abiotic components of a region

Question 2

primary producer

Answer 2

autotroph - organism that can synthesize its own food from inorganic sources (plants, algae, phytoplankton)

Question 3

GPP

Answer 3

gross primary production - total carbon fixed by primary producers

Question 4

GPP uses how much solar energy

Answer 4

about 0.8%

Question 5

NPP

Answer 5

net primary productivity - energy used for growth and reproduction

Question 6

distribution of GPP

Answer 6

45% to NPP 55% to cellular resipration

Question 7

NPP=

Answer 7

GPP - respiration

Question 8

NPP represents the amount of energy

Answer 8

available to other organisms in ecosystem

Question 9

consumers

Answer 9

eat living organisms

Question 10

decomposers

Answer 10

detritivores - obtain energy by feeding on the remaining other organisms

Question 11

organisms that consume energy from the same type of sources occu0py the same

Answer 11

trophic level

Question 12

brown food webs

Answer 12

rely more on dead material - most of biomass is consumed by decomposers

Question 13

forests are what type of food web

Answer 13

brown

Question 14

marine ecosystems are what type of food web

Answer 14

green

Question 15

biomass declines at each

Answer 15

higher trophic level (10% transfer, but can vary)

Question 16

where does energy go

Answer 16

maintenance cost of living, growth and reproduction (into mass), excretion (not all energy is obtained from food source)

Question 17

what type of energy is carried to next trophic level

Answer 17

energy that goes into growth and reproduction

Question 18

why are sea otters keystone species

Answer 18

great impact on abundance of other species relative to abundance of its own species

Question 19

trophic cascade

Answer 19

when changes in top-down control affect populations 2-3 links away in food web

Question 20

how did wolves change the rivers

Answer 20

decrease in lower level consumers, increase in vegetation, soil stabilization, less erosion