Mass and Energy (L3) Flashcards
What is resting metabolic rate?
the amount of energy a body requires to keep it alive
What is metabolic rate?
The amount of energy a body needs to keep it alive and perform tasks (more tasks = higher rate)
The higher the mass of an organism, the higher the metabolic rate
Kleiber’s Rule
Metabolism = constant*Mass^(3/4)
What are the basic physical laws that govern ecosystems
1- mass is conserved, whether abiotic or biotic
2 - mass is recycled within ecosystems (mass can change forms, new form still within ecosystem)
3 - Law of Thermodynamics a - energy is conserved, b - the amount of useful energy in a system decreases with every transfer or energy
4 - mass within an ecosystem is not inherently limited (they are open to mass)
What is a Food Chain, Trophic Level, Trophic Structure, Autotroph and Heterotroph?
Food Chain - shows movement of mass and energy from one trophic level to another
Trophic Level - consists of the organisms in the ecosystem that are the same number of steps removed from the autotrophs
Trophic Structure - the structure of energy transfer and loss b/w populations in the ecosystem (energy generally decreases as go up levels due to loss)
Autotroph - a photosynthetic or chemosynthetic organism tht uses light/chemical energy to turn carbon into usable food source (primary producers)
Heterotroph - organisms that needs food from the environment (consumer)
What are detrivores and what are their significance to energy in ecosystems
detrivore - organisms that consumes waste materials - they recycle (waste)
the energy loss due to waste from each trophic level in the ecosystem is used by detrivores, then converting this back to inroganic constituents and allowing a full recycle in the ecosystem (refer to L3 diagram). However, there is still some heat energy loss with every energy transfer
why are big fierce animals rare
- top of energy pyramid
not enough energy available to support high energy/biomass demand (esp if warm blooded, cuz they require more energy)
