Lecture 18 Flashcards
Biosphere
Living organisms as functional entities, processing energy and matter, reproducing, interacting with each other and with the physical environment, and that the entire biota can be regarded as a single system.
Alternate definitions for biosphere…
1) Bioshpere=Gaia (entire coupled system involving the atmoshpere, ocean, lithoshpere, as well as living systems.
2) Biosphere=all living organisms
3) Bioshpere= all organic carbon
Bioshperic Science
Largest scale possible to study within the life sciences, deals with a materially closed system.
Biospheres as a class of objects to study are defined as…
energetically open, materially closed
Open system
material flowing into and out of the system
closed system
no flow of material into or out of the system
Biospherics vs. Ecology
Bioshperics study of closed system, ecology study of an open system.
Biogeochemical Cycle
the relation between photosynthesis and respiration where radiation energy is converted to thermal energy and no net chemical change occurs.
Primary Production
the rate at which the bioshpere is produced by photosynthesis.
Gross Primary Production
total rate of photosynthesis
Net Primary Production
gross primary production minus the organic material list due to respiration of photosynthesizers
Gross Surface Ocean Production (GSOP)
total rate of photosynthesis
Net Surface Ocean Production (NSOP)
total amount of organic material that sinks into deep ocean before it is respired/decays in the photic zone
Composition of the biosphere?
1) Organic polymers(carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, lignans
2) Geomolecules- kerogen, coal, humus
What is used to represent organic molecules and why?
CH2O has the same stoichiometry as glucose C6H12O6. Glucose it is the simplest sugar and building block for all other organic molecules. Initial molecule produced in photosynthesis.
