Lecture 5.4 Flashcards
List the Progression of complexity of Ecology
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
consists of all of the populations in an area and the nonliving physical environments
Ecosystem
Ecologists study __ and ___
Energy flow and chemicals
Chemicals generally exist in
cycles through the ecosystem
Plants are eaten by herbivores
primary consumer
Herbivores are eaten by a carnivore
secondary consumer
Likely that another carnivore is involved that consumes the first carnivore
tertiary consumer
eat plants and animals
Omnivore
eaters of dead material/detritus
Detritivore
: Bacteria and fungi that take organic material and break it down into inorganic compounds
Decomposers
: earth worms that take the smaller chunks and break it down into even smaller chunks
Detritivore
: something big like a turkey vulture, eats large chunks of meat and breaks them down into small chunks
Scavengers
: the amount of energy on one level that is made into organism on the next
Food chain efficiency
a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem. Energy is lost at each step as you go up the trophic level
Ecological pyramid
a grasshopper eating a leaf, 50% lost as feces, 33% lost as cellular respiration this is an example of
ecological pyramid
the amount of organic matter from light per unit area per unit time, often measured in grams/meter squared/year
Primary productivity of an ecosystem
amount of heterotrophs made/area/unit time
Secondary productivity
Chemical cycles are more properly called
biogeochemical cycles
Carbon on our earth exists in __ different areas
4-5 Atmosphere Living things Lithosphere Fossile fuels
in equilibrium with the hydrosphere (all water of the earth)
The atmosphere
contain carbon, we gain it from the atmosphere, plants gain it from photosynthesis
living things
the rocks of the planet, can dissolve in water over time and the carbon returns and through volcanic venting carbon is returned to the atmosphere
lithosphere
carbon preserved in remains of organisms long ago
fossil fiels
Humans are deforesting places on earth, especially tropical, when trees are cut down or burned the carbon returns to the atmosphere, which
increases the atmospheric concentration of carbon
We are also using fossil fuels which releases carbon into the atmosphere again increasing the carbon in the atmosphere and in the
hydrosphere (our oceans are becoming more acidic)
On land, plants take up phosphorus, plants get eaten so animals get phosphorus, animals die, and P returns to the soil. Similar cycle in the water
Phosphorus cycle
