Energy and Matter Exchange Flashcards
The earth is like a complex organism where many living and non-living systems interact, according to what?
The Gaia Hypothesis
What does biotic mean?
Living
What does abiotic mean?
Non-living
What is it called that states, earth is continually changing with small adjustments being made in order to keep the whole system order?
Dynamic equilibrium
What does evidence suggest that’s causing a disruption to the earth’s systems that can be detrimental to its and our survival?
Humans
What is the term that refers to all areas of the earth in which living organisms are found?
The biosphere
What are the three different levels of the biosphere?
Atmosphere (air), Lithosphere (land), Hydrosphere (water)
What are biotic components?
The biological or living components of the biosphere (all living things)
What are abiotic components?
The non-living components of the biosphere (all chemical and physical factors)
What are groups of organisms of the same species living in a specific place at a specific time?
Populations
What are all of the populations that live in a specific area at a specific time referred as (populations of different species affect one another)?
Communities
What includes communities and their abiotic environments (abiotic and biotic interacting)?
Ecosystem
What is the order of organisms groupings?
- Species
- Populations
- Communities
- Ecosystems
- Biosphere
- Planet
- Etc.
What is the key to healthy ecosystems and a healthy planet?
Biodiversity
What is biodiversity?
Describes the biological diversity, number and variety of organisms in an ecosystem
What type of food chains are most stable?
Diverse ones
What are all organisms in an ecosystem either directly or indirectly affected by?
One another
What occurs if one species is removed from a limited food web?
A domino effect causing the system to collapse
What is an isolated natural environment under controlled conditions (often done in a lab, ex/ aquarium) called?
Mesocosm
What describes any system with constant change, where the components can adjust to the change without disturbing the entire system?
Dynamic equilibrium
What happens when the dynamic equilibrium becomes unbalanced?
The healthy or numbers of organisms in that ecosystem are affected (special concern, threatened, extirpated, endangered, extinct)
What are species of organisms that provide an early warning that an ecosystem is being affected by some factor?
Indicator species (fish, amphibians, algae, plants)
What are indicator species usually very sensitive to?
Changes in an ecosystem, or to specific changes of ecosystem conditions
Indicator species play a specific role in an ecosystem, what would happen if their numbers declined?
It would affect other organisms in the food web
What are plants that convert sunlight energy into food called?
Producers (self feeders/autotrophs)
What are animals that only feed on plants called?
Herbivores
What are animals that only feed on other animals called?
Carnivores
What are animals that feed on both plants and other animals called?
Omnivores
What is another name for herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores?
Consumers, other feeders, heterotrophs
What are organisms that feed on detritus, dead and decaying biological material, and return nutrients to the soil and water called?
Decomposers (saprotrophs)
What else feeds off of decomposing material?
Detrivores
What are four factors that contribute to the disappearance of specific organisms?
Loss of habitat, pollution, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation
What is it called when clean healthy habitats are often reduced or destroyed by human activities?
Loss of habitat
What causes poor air and water quality which is detrimental to many organisms?
Pollution
What causes abiotic conditions such as temperature and humidity to change, caused by pollutants?
Climate change (global warming)
What increases the incidence of mutations and causes damage at the cellular level, caused by damage to the ozone layer?
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation
In specific global areas, the ozone levels in the ozone layer have been reduced (caused by CFC’s), this results in an increase in the amount of harmful uv radiation that reaches earth; what is this called?
Ozone thinning
What describes the extent in which light is reflected from the earth’s surface by clouds, snow, or other highly reflective surfaces?
The albedo affect
What type of direction is energy flow in the biosphere?
One-way
Where does most of the energy in the biosphere come from?
The Sun (however only a small portion of the sun’s energy reaches the earth’s atmosphere)
What is the main limiting factor in most food chains/web?
Sunlight (0.02% is used by photosynthesis)
What is a category that defines hows living things gain energy for life processes called (feeding level)?
Trophic level
What are organisms that produce their own energy from either sunlight (photosynthesis) or chemical energy (chemosynthesis) called?
Producers/autotrophs (1st trophic level)
What are organisms that feed on other organisms called?
Heterotrophs
What are heterotrophs that feed on autotrophs (herbivores) called?
Primary consumers (2nd trophic level)
What are heterotrophs that feed on primary consumers (carnivores) called?
Secondary consumers (3rd trophic level)
What are organisms that are not consumed by any other organism called?
Top carnivores (4th trophic level)
What are single sequences illustrating a one way flow of energy in an ecosystem called?
Food chains
What are interlocking food chains that illustrate more complex feeding relationships between organisms called?
Food webs
What is often forgotten in food webs/chains?
Decomposers
What is the overall number of organisms determined by?
The amount of energy that gets to them
What is the process where producers capture solar energy and convert it into food?
Photosynthesis
What is the process where consumers break down glucose into CO2 and water, releasing useable energy?
Cellular respiration
What is the process where non-photosynthetic organisms convert inorganic chemical compounds (Sulphur, iron, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide) into energetic organic molecules?
Chemosynthesis
What are organisms who’re capable of performing chemosynthesis called?
Chemoautotrophs (archaea bacteria)
The transfer of energy in an ecosystem is extremely inefficient, how much energy will be passed on to the next trophic level?
10-15%
What happens to the amount of available energy in all food chains?
Decreases as you move up the chain
What is lost in each and every energy conversion?
Valuable energy
Why is energy transfer so inefficient (four reasons)?
- Most of the energy produced by autotrophs is used to promote their own survival and growth
- Consumers don’t process all the food they eat (waste and heat)
- Some of the energy taken in by the consumer is required to digest/metabolize the food eaten
- Energy transfer in biological systems always follows the first and second laws of thermodynamics
What does the second law of thermodynamics state?
During any energy conversion, some of the energy is converted to heat, a form that is not recovered
What can be used to represent the energy flow in food chains or food webs by showing the amount of energy, the number of organisms or the biomass?
Ecological pyramids
What illustrates the decreasing amount of energy available at each successive trophic level?
Pyramids of energy (best visualization of energy distribution)
What describes the number of organisms at each successive level of the food chain (often appear inverted)?
Pyramids of numbers (least accurate way to visually show energy distribution)
What represents the dry mass of plant and animal tissues in a food chain (dry mass decreases at each trophic level)?
Pyramid of biomass
What is another name for the cycling of matter in the biosphere?
Biogeochemical cycle
What type of system is earth?
A closed system (heat/energy can leave, matter cannot)
What does matter in the biosphere regularly do?
Changes form or cycles
What is another name for the water cycle?
The hydrological cycle
What are six things water is important for?
- Absorbs and releases thermal energy
- Most metabolic reactions take place in water solutions
* 3. Its an excellent solvent due to its polar nature - It dissociates into acidic H+ and basic OH-
- it exists as a solid, liquid, or gas
- Supplies hydrogen in photosynthetic reactions and oxygen during cell resp.
What type of cycling is the water cycle?
Physical cycling of matter (deals with phase changes)
What is the only way of consistently getting sulphate in an ecosystem?
Archaea and sulphur fixing bacteria
What is the loss of water into the atmosphere through the leaves of plants called?
Transpiration
What is the movement of water through porous soil called?
Percolation
What is the removal of soluble minerals by percolation called?
Leaching
What is the precipitation of acidic solutions due to SOx and NOx gases combining with water called?
Acid deposition (acid rain)
What is it called when chemicals get into a food chain/web, and once inside the chain/web these chemicals are passed on from organism to organism as feeding relationships occur?
Bioaccumulation/biomagnification/bioamplification
What are four characteristics of chemicals that we need to worry about getting into food chains/webs?
- Water soluble (easily dispersed & easily gets into food chains/webs)
- Hardy (don’t break down or react with other chemicals very much)
- Toxic only at high concentrations
- Easily stored in the tissues of organisms
Make prime conditions for chemicals that will biomagnify in food chains
What organisms are not affected by these chemicals?
Ones at the bottom of food chains as only small amounts will be absorbed by them
What organisms will be most affected by these chemicals?
Consumers and top carnivores, they feed off of the lower trophic levels (need to eat lots) causing them to be exposed to more of the chemical
When the chemical reaches high enough concentration what will happen to the organisms at the top of the food chains?
They will be negatively impacted and may even die
What organisms has mercury affected?
Bald eagles and humans
What organisms has DDT affected?
Polar bears
What organisms has BPA affected?
Humans
What organisms has estrogen/progesterone (birth control) affected?
Male organisms
What are all organic substances on earth compounds of?
Carbon
What are carbon sources?
Combustion, decomposition, and cellular respiration (all produce inorganic CO2)
What puts CO2 in the atmosphere?
Cellular respiration
What is required to capture inorganic carbon and convert it into organic carbon?
Photosynthesis (carbon sink)
How have humans increased the production of CO2?
Increasing the number of CO2 sources and decreasing the number of carbon sinks
What’s are examples of CO2 sources?
burning fossil fuels, increased cell respiration, increased decomposition
What’s an example of decreasing carbon sinks?
Deforestation
What has the increased number of CO2 sources and decreased number of carbon sinks resulted in?
Global warming
What is caused by increased amounts of atmospheric gases (CO2 and CH4) that prevents heat from escaping causing an increase in temperature on the earths surface?
Greenhouse effect
What do many scientists believe the greenhouse effect is caused by?
Primarily human activities
Why is nitrogen important?
GROWTH
What is nitrogen an important building block of?
Proteins and nucleic acids
What percentage of earths atmosphere is nitrogen?
79%
What is the useable form of nitrogen?
Nitrate
What is the process where atmospheric nitrogen is converted into a useable form by lightning or nitrogen fixing bacteria?
Nitrogen fixation
What is the process where bacteria is responsible for releasing nitrogen back into the atmosphere?
Denitrification
What is the process where decomposers break down organic nitrogen containing compounds into simpler chemicals like ammonia and nitrites?
Ammonification
What is the process called when bacteria changes ammonia into useable nitrates?
Nitrification
What is the most consistent way of getting nitrates in an ecosystem?
Bacteria fixing organisms
How have humans increased the amount of unnatural nitrates faster than ever?
Fertilizers
What happens with fertilizers?
Leaches nitrates into surrounding bodies of water
What does the excess nitrates in water bodies contribute to?
Algal blooms
What is phosphorus required for?
GROWTH; cell membranes, ATP, DNA, bone formation
Where does phosphorus cycle?
Through the earths crust and through living organisms
Typically, how fast does phosphorus cycle?
Extremely slow and inconsistent
How have humans increased the amount of phosphates in ecosystems?
Detergents, soaps, and fertilizers
What is special about non-natural useable form phosphates?
Extremely water soluble
What is a consequence of phosphate being incredibly water soluble?
Leaches into bodies of water resulting in algal blooms
What are materials that restore nutrients to plants called?
Fertilizers
What do most fertilizers contain a ratio of?
Phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium (PNK)
What does the accumulation of phosphates and nitrogen in fertilizer cause in bodies of water?
Rapid algae growth
What happens when algae dies?
Bacteria use the available oxygen to decompose the algae
What does the decomposition of algae result in?
Less oxygen available for fish and other aquatic organisms (eutrophication)
What is the problem with the nitrogen cycle?
Nitrogen is easily accessible and in high amounts but its not in a useable form (have to wait for it to be converted into its useable form nitrate)
Why are fertilizers often used?
Instant nitrates straight to producers and ecosystem
What is the problem with nitrates?
Water soluble
What are alternatives to fertilizers?
- Crop rotation
- Spread manure
- Spread compost
- Spread ash
- all are cheap, natural, slow ways to increase nitrates
What is the problem with the phosphorus cycle?
None in the atmosphere (trapped in rock in non-useable form, in very limited amounts), also very slow (ecosystems have to wait a long time for it to become its useable form, phosphate)
Because the phosphate cycle is so slow, what do farmers use to combat this problem?
Fertilizers
What is the problem with phosphates?
Extremely water soluble (directly causes algal blooms), once excess phosphate is in the water its near impossible to remove (wastewater treatment plants can’t remove it)
What is the problem with algal blooms?
Out compete plants, other producers, and each other for sun and resources causing death in the process, dead organisms need to be decomposed, resulting in less O2
What is excessive richness of nutrients in an aquatic ecosystem (increases nitrogen and phosphorus) called (increases the rate of succession and increased decomposition)?
Eutrophication
