Ecosystem Part 1 (General Principles in Ecology) Flashcards
is a community of different living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system.
Ecosystem
It is a collection of all
organisms that live in a
particular place together
with their nonliving
environment.
Ecosystem
- Scientific study of the interactions or relationships between organisms and the environment
Ecology
is a collection of plants and animals
that have common characteristics for the
environment they exist in.
biome
are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate.
Biomes
The term “biome” was first used in
____ by ______ an
American ecologist, to describe the
plants and animals in a given habitat.
1916
Frederic E. Clements,
is smaller than a biome
because a biome is distributed
throughout the Earth.
ecosystem
are large, geographically defined
regions with similar climate and
vegetation, encompassing multiple
ecosystems
Biomes
, are localized communities of living
organisms and their interactions within a
specific area, often found within biomes.
Ecosystems
An area’s biome is determined mostly by its __________ (temperature and precipitation)
climate
is a major factor in determining types of life that reside in a particular biome
Climate
Several factors that influence climate:
- latitude
- geographic features
- atmospheric processes disseminating heat and moisture.
LAND (6)
RAINFORESTS, DESERTS,
GRASSLANDS, DECIDOUS FORESTS,
BOREAL FORESTS, & TUNDRA
WATER (2)
FRESHWATER &
MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
- Often named for major physical or climatic factors and for vegetation
- Characterized by distribution, precipitation, temperature, plants, and animals
Terrestrial Biomes
There are 2 main types of rain forests:
- Tropical Rain Forests.
- Temperate Rain Forests
having moderate temperatures.
Temperate
Are found in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and central and western Europe.
TEMPERATE
RAIN FORESTS
TEMPERATE RAIN FORESTS: Receives more than _________ (10 ft) of rain per year
300 CM
- Found in regions close to the equator
- Warm and humid all year long.
- Lots of precipitation.
- Diverse plant growth.
TROPICAL
RAIN FORESTS
A leafy roof formed by the tallest trees.
Canopy
A second layer of shorter trees and vines.
Understory
plants grow well in the shade formed by
the canopy, but the forest floor is nearly dark and only a few plants live there.
Understory
slow plant growth; low species diversity; slow nutrient recycling and lack of water
fragile ecosystem
3 Desserts have little vegetation and moisture:
- Tropical Deserts
- Temperate Deserts
- Cold Deserts
The ___________ desert in Africa cools rapidly after the sun goes down.
scorching Namib
The _________ desert in central Asia is cooler and even experiences freezing temperatures in the winter
Gobi
a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem
Savanna:
a transitional biome, not really a forest
and not really a desert
Can receive as much as 120 cm of rain
per year.
Savanna
a type of woodland characterized by a
combination of dry soil, warm weather, and short, hardy shrubs.
Chaparral
it is dominated by short woody plants, rather than grasses or tall trees
it is unique to the Pacific coast of North America.
Chaparral
- Characterized as having grasses as the
dominant vegetation. - Trees and large shrubs are absent.
Temperate grassland
- Precipitation is highly seasonal
- Have cold winters and warm summers
with some rain - Grasses and adapted to droughts and
fire
Temperate
Grasslands
home to many of the largest animals
on Earth.
Examples:
* Grazing by these large herbivores helps to maintain these grasslands
Grasslands
- The _____ is a forest of the cold, subarctic region
- Has been called the world’s largest land biome
- Coniferous, pines, oak, maple and elm trees.
- Mooses, lynx, bears, wolverines, foxes,
squirrels.
TAIGA OR BOREAL
FOREST
- the coldest of all the biomes.
- comes from the Finnish word
tunturi, meaning treeless plain.
TUNDRA
live in the water itself and cannot propel
themselves through water (Bacteria, algae).
Plankton
=live in the water and can propel themselves by swimming or other means (invertebrates, shrimps;
vertebrates, fish)
Nekton
live on the surface below a body of water
(sponges, clams and sea stars)
Benthos
biomes found in the salt water of the ocean.
aquatic
Major marine biomes
neritic, oceanic, and benthic biomes.
- occur in ocean water over the
continental shelf - extend from the low-tide water line to
the edge of the continental shelf. - large populations of phytoplankton
- great biomass and biodiversity.
Neritic Biomes
=shallow
water
is a biotic community that
is present in the open ocean
Oceanic Biomes
is the lowest ecological zone in a
water body, and usually involves
the sediments at the seafloor.
Benthic Biomes
occur on the bottom of the ocean
where benthos/ benthic organisms live
Benthic Biomes
Where freshwater of a river meets
saltwater of the ocean.
Estuary
the tidal mouth of a large river,
where the tide meets the stream.
- freshwater mixes with salt water
Estuary
an underwater ecosystem
characterized by reef-building corals
are formed of colonies of coral polyps
held together by calcium carbonate.
Coral Reef
▪ Close to the shore/bank
▪ High light penetration penetrate
▪ phytoplankton and floating organisms
▪ high productivity and high biodiversity
Littoral zone
▪ top layer of lake water away from shore.
▪ covers much of the lake’s surface
▪ Photosynthesis occurs in this zone
Limnetic zone
- near the bottom of a lake
- no sunlight penetrates = no producers
- Consumers, decomposers
- low biodiversity
Profundal zone
- bottom of a lake.
- Organisms such as crayfish, snails, near
shore - completely dark
- decomposers.
Benthic zone
- Covered by water at least one season
- Plants are adapted to water-logged soil
- Also known as swamps or marshes.
- Provide habitat for thousands of
species of aquatic and terrestrial
plants and animals.
Wetlands
are regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants.
bIOMES
There are terrestrial biomes (land) and aquatic biomes, both __and __.
freshwater
marine
The world comprises a huge _____of the types of environments which are divided and grouped into different types of biomes
diversity
- Nutrient Cycle
- more or less circular paths of the chemical elements passing back and
forth between organisms and environment
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
2 General Group of
Biogeochemical Cycle
Perfect (Gaseous)
Imperfect (Sedimentary)
- Hydrological Cycle
- describes the way that water is circulated and recycled throughout Earth’s system
- The ____ is an extremely
important process because it
enables the availability of water for
all living organisms and regulates
weather patterns on our planet.
WATER CYCLE
the process that changes liquid water to gaseous water
Evaporation
s the process of water vapor being released from plants and soil.
Transpiration
the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water
Condensation
any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls to
the Earth
Precipitation
(also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface
Surface runoff
- Describes the process in which carbon
atoms continually travel from the
atmosphere to the Ear
Carbon Cycle
SOURCES of Carbon
*Death of plants and animals
* Animal waste
* Atmospheric C
* Methane from ruminant animals
* Cellular Respiration (Aerobic)
* Volcanic Eruptions
Natural
SOURCES of Carbon
- Burning of wood
- Motor vehicles
- Burning of fossil fuel
Anthropological
a biogeochemical process through which nitrogen is converted into many forms, consecutively passing from the atmosphere
to the soil to organism and back into the
atmosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle
Sources of Nitrogen
- Inorganic fertilizers
- Nitrogen Fixation
- Animal Residues
- Crop residues
- Organic fertilizers
Forms of Nitrogen
- Urea → CO(NH2)2
- Ammonia → NH3 (gaseous)
- Ammonium → NH4
- Nitrate → NO3
- Nitrite → NO2
- Atmospheric Dinitrogen →N2
- Organic N
- the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformation and translocation of phosphorus in soil, water, and
living and dead organic material. - the slowest biogeochemical cycles.
- one of the scarcest elements found in nature which makes it one of the limiting agents
Phosphorous Cycle
