Ecosystems Flashcards
Regardless of an ecosystems size, its dynamics involve 2 main processes: —— & ——
- Energy Flow
2. Chemical Cycling
Energy flows — ecosystems while chemical cycle — them
- Through
2. Within
Ecologist study the transformations of — & — in an ecosystem and map the movements of ——
- Energy
- Matter
- Chemical elements
First law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be — or —, only — or —
- Created
- Destroyed
- Transferred
- Transform
Energy enters an ecosystem as ——, some is transformed into — energy by plants that is transferred to other organisms, and is ultimately lost as —
- Solar radiation
- Chemical
- Heat
Second law of thermodynamics: every exchange of energy — the — of the universe
- Increases
2. Entropy
In an ecosystem, energy conversion are not completely —, and some energy is always — as heat
- Efficient
2. Lost
Law of conservation of mass: — cannot be — or —
- Matter
- Created
- Destroyed
Chemical elements are continually — within ecosystem
Recycled
Although most elements are not gained or lost on a — scale, they can be gained or lost from a particular —
- Global
2. Ecosystem
Ecosystems are — systems, absorbing — & — and releasing — & — products
- Open
- Energy
- Mass
- Heat
- Waste
If a nutrients — from an ecosystem exceed its —, that nutrient will limit —
- Outputs
- Inputs
- Production
Ecologists group species into tropical levels based on their main source of nutrition and energy:
- —: build molecules themselves using photosynthesis or chemo synthesis as an energy source
- —: depend on the bio synthetic output of other organisms
- Autotrophs
2. Heterotrophs
Energy and nutrients pass from: Primary producers(—) to primary consumers (—) to secondary consumers (—) then to tertiary consumers (— that feed on other —)
- Autotrophs
- Herbivores
- Carnivores
- Carnivores
- Carnivores
—, or —: consumers that derive their energy from —, nonliving organic matter
- Detritivores
- Decomposes
- Detritus
— & — are the main detritivores
- Prokaryotes
2. Fungi
Decomposers play a critical role in recycling — elements to ——
- Chemical
2. Primary producers
— connects all tropic levels
Decomposition
In most ecosystems, —— is the amount of light energy converted to chemical; energy by autotrophs during a given time period
Primary production
In some ecosystems, initial energy input is — an chemoautotroph are the ——
- Chemical
2. Primary producers
The amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface limits — — of ecosystems
* Varies with —, with most in the tropics
- Photosynthetic output
2. Latitude
Only a small fraction of solar energy actually strikes — organisms, and even less is of a usable —
- Photosynthetic
2. Wavelength
The extent of photosynthetic production sets the —— for an ecosystems — budget
- Spending limit
2. Energy
———: total primary production
* measured as the conversion of — from — to ——— per unit time
- Gross primary production (GPP)
- Energy
- Light
- Organic chemical energy
———: amount of new biomass added in a given area over a given time period, not the total biomass of autotrophs
Net primary production (NPP)
NPP is equal to — minus — used by primary producers for —
- GPP
- Energy
- Respiration
NPP on average is equal to about — of —
- 1/2
2. GPP
Only NPP is available to —
Consumers
———, —, & —— are among the most productive ecosystems per unit area
- Tropical rain forests
- Estuaries
- Coral reefs
Marine ecosystems are relatively — per unit area, but contribute much to global net —— because of their —
- Unproductive
- Primary production
- Volume
Net ecosystem production (NEP) is the measure of total —— during a given period
Biomes accumulation
NEP= — minus the total — of — organisms in an ecosystem
- GPP
- Respiration
- All
NEP is useful in determining whether an ecosystem is — or ——-
- Gaining
- Losing
- Biomass
Primary production in aquatic ecosystems is controlled by both — & —
- Light
2. Nutrients
Light: — of light penetration affects —— in the photic zone of an ocean or lake
- Depth
2. Primary production
Nutrients:
* More than —, nutrients limit primary production in most — & —
- Light
- Oceans
- Lakes
——: an element that must be added for production to increase in an area
* — & — most often limit marine production
- Limiting Nutrient
- Nitrogen
- Phosphorus
The addition of large amount of — to lake has a wide range of — impacts
- Nutrients
2. Ecological
In some areas sewage runoff has caused — of lakes, which can lead to loss of most fish species
Eutrophication
— limits Cyanobacteria growth more often than — in lake~led to the use of phosphate-free detergents
- Phosphorus
2. Nitrogen
In terrestrial ecosystems, — & — affect primary production on a large scale
- Temperature
2. Moisture
Soil nutrients often limit primary production in — ecosystems
Terrestrial
— is the most common limiting nutrient in soils
Nitrogen
— can also be a limiting nutrient, especially on older soils
Phosphorus
Various adaptations help plants access limiting nutrients from soil:
*Some plants form — with — fixing bacteria
- Mutualisms
2. Nitrogen
Various adaptations help plants access limiting nutrients from soil:
* Many plants for mutualisms with ——
~ Supply plants with — and other limiting elements
- Mycorrhizal fungi
2. Phosphorus
Various adaptations help plants access limiting nutrients from soil:
* Roots have —— to increase surface area
Root hairs
Various adaptations help plants access limiting nutrients from soil:
* Many plants release — that increase the availability of ——
- Enzymes
2. Limiting nutrients
Secondary production: amount of — energy in consumers food converted to new — during a given period of time
* only about —/— of the leaves energy is used for secondary production
- Chemical
- Biomass
- 1/6
Production efficiency: the fraction of energy stored in — food that is not used for —
- Assimilated
2. Respiration
Birds and mammals have efficiencies in the range of —% because of the high cost of —
- 1-3%
2. Endothermy
Fishes have production efficiencies of around —%
10%
Insects and microorganisms have efficiencies of —% or more
40%
——: percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next
- Must always be — than production efficiencies because also takes into account unconsumed organic matter
- Usually about —%, with a range of 5% to 20%
- Multiplied over the length of a ——
- Tropic efficiency
- Less
- 10%
- Food Chain
An energy pyramid represents the — of energy with each — in a food chain
- Loss
2. Transfer
Approximately —% of chemical energy voxed by photosynthesis reaches a tertiary consumer
0.1%
In a biomass pyramid each tier represents the —— of all organisms in one tropic level
Dry weight
Most bio mass pyramid show a sharp decrease at successively ———
Higher tropic levels
Certain aquatic ecosystems have inverted biomass pyramids: producers (phytoplankton) are consumed so quickly that they are outweighed by ——
Primary consumers
Given enough time, —— can recover from many types of disturbances
Biological communities
Restoration ecology seeks to initiate or speed up the — of ——
- Recovery
2. Degraded ecosystems
2 key strategies are — and — of ecosystem processes
- Bioremediation
2. Augmentation
— is the of living organisms to detoxify ecosystems
- organisms most often used are —,—, or —
- These organisms can take up, and sometimes metabolize, — molecules
- Bioremediation
- Prokaryotes, fungi, or plants
- Toxic
—— uses organisms to add essential materials to a degraded ecosystem
Biological Augmentation
