Final Exam Flashcards
What is the definition of resilience?
Ability to recover from a disturbance
What is the definition of resistance?
Degree of change in response to disturbance
Define ecosystem stability
Consistency or predictability of ecosystem structure and function in response to a disturbance.
What are the three factors that contribute to stability?
- Negative feedback loops
- Trophic complexity
- Nutrient availability
What are the three factors affecting decomposition rates?
- Abiotic factors
- Detritus quality
- Decomposer community present
What is a Global Positioning System?
It is a system that is helpful in finding the landscape level.
What do Geographic Information systems do?
This is a mapping system that shows multiple layers, like soil type or vegetation type
What are the terrestrial ecosystems with the highest and lowest NPP average?
Highest: Tropical Rain forest
Lowest: Desert
What Aquatic and wetland ecosystems have the highest and lowest mean NPP?
Highest: Swamps and marshes
Lowest: Open ocean
What factors affect secondary production?
- Food availability and energy content
- Position in food web
- Body mass/ surface area
- Activity
- Endotherm and Ectotherm
What is a description of food availability?
Better food quality means better energy quality but if food isn’t there organisms can not survive.
Describe the secondary production affect of position in food web.
Affects simulation rates, lower in the food chain means lower simulation rates.
Describe body mass in secondary production
This affects metabolic rates, Increasing metabolism will always decrease secondary production.
Describe Activity’s roll in secondary production
More active means higher metabolism
What is the description of Endotherm?
Had to expand energy to maintain a steady body temperature, this means higher energy is used.
Describe ectotherm
An example of this would be a snake heating its body by laying on a rock in the sun, less energy is used.
What is the Biogeochemical Cycle?
Cyclic interchange of matter among the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, landscape or the biosphere.
What are the three factors in the Matter Cycle
- Macronutrients
- Micronutrients
- Water
- Non-essential compounds, Pollutants
What are Macronutrients?
Elements essential to life in relatively large quantities (N,Ca,Mg,K,C,H,O,P)
What are Micronutrients?
Elements essential to life in relatively small quantities (Cu,Zn)
What is Minirhizotron?
A harmless way of seeing the roots of plants
Define Phyloplane Bacteria.
Microbes living on the surface of plants, similar to the bacteria on skin that breaks down dead skin cells.
What are the nutrient losses due to human disturbance?
- Lose plant nutrient pump-increased runoff
- Soil erosion
- Increased nitrification
- Increased lose of cations due to acidification of soil
Define Oligotrophic
Low nutrients, low primary production
