Energy Transfer - Energy and Ecosystems: Key Terms Flashcards
Biomass
The total mass of living material in a specific area at a given time
Caliometry
A technique to estimate the chemical energy store in a dry mass
Extracellular digestion
When saprobionts release enzymes externally which break down large biological molecules into smaller ones which are then absorbed by digestion or active transport
Trophic level
Each stage in a food chain
Gross primary production (GPP)
Total quantity of the chemical energy store in plant biomass, in a given time
Net primary production (NPP)
The chemical energy store which is left when losses to respiration have been taken into account.
Gross primary production - respiratory losses
Food chain
A feeding relationship with each stage referred to a trophic level
Food web
How food chains link together in a habitat
Productivity
The rate of generation of biomass in an ecosystem
Intensive farming
A type of farming which uses processes to try and make energy conversion more efficient by ensuring that as much energy from respiration as possible goes into growth rather than other activities or other organisms
Percentage efficiency (calculation)
Can be calculated by:
Energy available after the transfer / energy available before the transfer) x 100
Selective breeding
Breeding of organisms by human selection of parents for certain characteristics
Saprobiontic microorganism
An organism that obtains its food from the dead or decaying remains (detritus) of other organisms
Biological control
Controlling pests by introducing predators
Ecosystem
All the living and non-living components of a particular area
Detritivores
Organisms that feed on pieces of dead and decaying material and finely break it up, increasing its surface area. This helps saprophytes do their job.
Decomposer
Any organism which breaks down organic matter, including saprophytes and detritivores
Nitrogen fixation
Conversion of nitrogen gas into nitrogen-containing compounds, carried out by free-living nitrogen fixing bacteria and mutualistic nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Nitrogen fixing bacteria
Free-living or mutualistic bacteria that carry out the process of nitrogen fixation
Ammonification
Production of ammonia from organic nitrogen-containing compounds
Nitfirication
Where free-living nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia into nitrites or convert nitrites into nitrates using oxidation reactions which release energy
Dentrification
Where anaerobic denitrifying bacteria convert soil nitrates into nitrogen gas
Phosphorous cycle
Enables the cycling of phosphorous which is an important biological element as it is a component of ATP, phospholipids and nucleic acids
Phosphate
PO43- ions are how phosphorous exists mostly in the form of sedimentary rock deposits
Weathering
The breakdown of rock and how phosphate ions in wastes, remains and rocks are released into oceans, lakes and soils as dissolved phosphate ions
Mycorrhizae
Mutualistic association between certain types of fungi and the vast majority of plants
Guano
The excrement of seabirds and bats
Symbiotic
When two species live in close proximity
Fertiliser
Substance added to soil to increase productivity through replenishing mineral ions
Natural (organic) fertilisers
Type of fertiliser which consist of the dead and decaying remains of plants and animals as well as animal wastes such as manure, slurry and bone meal
Artificial (inorganic) fertilisers
Type of fertiliser which are mined from rocks and deposits and then converted into different forms and blended together to give the appropriate balance of minerals for a particular crop
Leaching
Process by which nutrients are washed from the soil into watercourses
Euthrophication
Process by which nutrient concentrations increase in bodies of water
Mutualistic relationship
A type of symbiotic relationship where the relationship is mutually beneficial for two organisms
