ecosystems

Question 1

what are ecosystems?

Answer 1

all of the living organisms in an area as well as abiotic factors

Question 2

what are the three broad categories?

Answer 2

fresh water
ocean water
terrestrial

Question 3

what is the ocean ecosystem?

Answer 3

-it is the most common ecosystem as ocean water covers 75% of earth’s surface

Question 4

what is the deep ocean surface?

Answer 4

plankton and krill which are important in aerobic respiration
also 40% of earth’s photosynthesis, carbon sink and oxygen generation

Question 5

what is the freshwater ecosystem?

Answer 5

rare ecosystems that make up only 1.8% of earth’s surface
consists of lakes, rivers, streams, and springs
also very diverse

Question 6

what is the terrestrial ecosystem?

Answer 6

• usually grouped into biomes tundra, taigas, temperate deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, grasslands, and deserts

Question 7

what are the ecosystem equilibrium states?

Answer 7

-steady state where all organisms in balance with environment and each other
-resistance where the level of ability of an ecosystem to remain in equilibrium despite disturbances.
-resilience is the speed at which an ecosystem recovers after being disturbed

Question 8

what are the type of disturbances to an ecosystem?

Answer 8

-natrual such as climate and lightning generated forest fires
-anthropogenic such as agriculture, air pollution, acid rain, deforestation

Question 9

what are food chains?

Answer 9

linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients/energy pass

Question 10

what is the order that energy/nutrients pass through?

Answer 10

-primary producer (grass)
-primary consumer (herbivores)
-secondary consumers (carnivores that eat herbivores)
-tertiary consumers (carnivores that eat other carnivores)
-apex predator (top of the food chain)

Question 11

what is the food web?

Answer 11

all the food chains in an ecosystem or all the possible paths that energy and nutrients make take as they move through the ecosystem

Question 12

what is the meaning of trophic and trophic levels?

Answer 12

-trophic means obtaining nutrition
-trophic levels group organisms into order of which obtains nutrients first

Question 13

what is the 1st law of thermodynamics?

Answer 13

energy cannot be created nor destroyed but only transferred or transformed?

Question 14

what is chemical cycling and how does energy flow in ecosystems?

Answer 14

Question 15

what limits a food chain length and what is energetics?

Answer 15

-energy limits a food chain length
-energetics is the control of the food web length

Question 16

what is the global energy budget?

Answer 16

begins with the energy emitted by the sun that is captured by photoautotrphs

Question 17

what is trophic efficiency?

Answer 17

-the percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next