Energy Flows & Ecosystems Flashcards
What is the Ecosphere? What parts make up the ecosphere?
The entire global ecosystem.
- lithosphere
- cryosphere
- hydrosphere
- atmosphere
- biosphere
What is energy? Characteristics?
The capacity to do work measured in calories. It has no mass and doesn’t occupy space.
What is potential energy?
Energy that is stored (ie, water stopped by a dam, gas sitting in a tank)
What is kinetic energy?
Energy that has motion (ie, water being poured)
What is low-quality energy?
Most energy available. It is dispersed at low temperatures and is difficult to gather. (ie, oceans)
What is high-quality energy?
It is easy to use, but disperses quickly (ie, fire, coal, gas, nuclear - lots of energy is lost). This has low entropy, but as energy dispersed, entropy increases.
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
Law of Conservation of Energy: energy is neither created nor destroyed only transferred between forms
What is the second law of thermodynamics?
Law of Entropy: When energy is transformed, there is always a decrease in the amount of usable energy (heat loss).
What is entropy?
The measure of disorder/randomness of a system. More energy dispersed, higher the entropy.
What is the proportional break down of where the sun’s energy goes?
- 33% reflected back (off of ice sheets, etc)
- 42% heats the earth’s surface
- 23% evaporates water
- > 1% forms the basis of ecosystems
What is the path of photosynthesis?
CO2 + H2O + energy = O2 + C6H12O6 (sugars - glucose, cellulose, starches, etc)
Define autotroph. What is another name for it? Name the types.
It captures energy and converts it to matter (self-feeders). AKA producers. Phototrophs & chemoautotrophs
Define heterotroph. What is another name for it?
It gets energy through eating other organisms. AKA consumers
Define phototrophs
They obtain energy from light, where the majority of energy is lost in the process, but biomass is still produced …. PLANTS
Define biomass
The sum of all living material
Define chemoautotrophs
They gain energy from chemicals in the environment though chemotaxis. They are just as important as phototrophs as they are fundamental in biogeochemical cycles… BACTERIA
What is a food chain?
An energy pathway.
Describe a food chain
Herbivores (primary consumers) eat producers, which gets passed to carnivores (secondary/tertiary consumers), and then decomposers (detritivores) feed on all dead organisms.
What is a trophic level?
Each food chain level
Describe possible omnivore food chains
- eat veggies - primary consumers
- eat beef - secondary consumers
- eat certain fish - tertiary consumers
Describe decomposer food chains
detritus (dead organic matter) is high in potential energy, but only decomposers can eat it. They break down materials into simpler compounds/elements (ie, CO2, H2O)
What is a food web?
A complex mix of food chains
What is cellular respiration?
Metabolic processes (essentially opposite of photosynthesis) to break down carbs and release energy for variety of uses in the body
What happens in biotic pyramids?
As you move through trophic levels, more energy is lost (low energy efficiency), so top of food chain species (apex predators) are very vulnerable to lower level changes. Example, beef requires lots of energy, so vegetarian is more efficient.
Define productivity
the rate at which energy is transformed into biomass
What is Gross Primary Product (GPP)?
the rate of biomass production (total energy production)
What is Net Primary Productivity (NPP)?
Calculated by GPP minus cellular respiration (R), it is the amount of energy available to heterotrophs
What is Net Community Productivity (NCP)?
It is the primary productivity minus autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration
What is a specialist species?
They have narrow niches (very specific conditions - food, habitat, climate) required for survival. More susceptible to population fluctuation because of environmental change. Often endangered species. Ex, panda
What is a generalist species?
They have broad niches (can live in a variety of conditions) and are very adaptable to location & food. Ex. black bear
What is parasitism?
When a predator lives on or in it’s prey, and only the predator receives the benefits in the relationship. The predator will receive nourishment and can lead to the death of the host. ex, tapeworms
What is mutualism?
This relationship benefits both species. ex, pollinator and flowers
What is commensalism?
A relationship that benefits one species, but does not harm the other. ex, vines growing up a tree
What is a keystone species?
It strongly influences a community, and often play a large role in maintaining the ecosystem they live in. This species often impacts other species in the ecosystem. Ex, beaver controlling water level through it’s dam
