Science unit 3 Flashcards
Ecosystem
all the living organisms in an area and their non-living environment
Population
all the members of the same species that live in the area
Community
population of all different plants/animals living in the same area
Biotic
living things in the environment
(animals, plants, etc)
Abiotic
non-living factors in the environment (sunlight, wind, chemicals in the soil, etc)
Sustainability
the ability to maintain an ecological balance.
Trophic level
a feeding level to describe the position of a living thing along a food chain
*Atmosphere
-Made up of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and <1% argon, water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other gases
-Acts like a blanket and moderates surface temperatures.
-Blocks solar radiation (UV light)
*lithosphere
-Earth’s outer layer,the rocky shell of Earth
-The mountains, ocean floors and rest of Earth’s solid landscape.
-Ranges from 50 to 150 km in thickness
*Hydrosphere
-Made up of all the water on Earth:
Solid - glaciers
Liquid – lakes, oceans, etc and groundwater
Gas – clouds, water vapour
-97% of Earth’s water is contained in the oceans.
*Biosphere
-The zone around Earth where life can exist within the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere
-Most can be found on land and in water
-Some micro-organisms can live several kms below the earth’s surface
-Can have artificial biospheres
*Photosynthesis
-the process in which the Suns energy is converted into chemical energy.
-Formula:
Carbon dioxide+water->sugar+oxygen
*Cellular Respiration
-a chemical process in which energy is released from food to provide energy for the cell
-Formula:
sugar+oxygen->carbon dioxide+ water+energy
*Food Chain
a step-by-step sequence of who eats who, showing how energy is transferred from one living thing to another
*Producer
(the first trophic level)-makes their own food. eg.plants use a chemical called chlorophyll to capture the light energy for photosynthesis.
*Consumers
eat other organisms to gain energy
(cannot make their own food.)
*Primary consumer
(second trophic level)-an organism that eats producers (e.g. herbivores)
*Secondary consumer
(third trophic level)-omnivores/small carnivores
*Tertiary consumers
(fourth trophic level)-large carnivores
*Biomass
the mass of living organisms in a given area
*Food web
Food webs show a highly complex series to interconnecting food chains.
*Water cycle
-shows how water takes different forms and moves through the environment
-water evaporates from the surface water(lakes, rivers, oceans), travels to the clouds, falls down again as rain, snow or hail
*Transpiration
water moves from the roots to the leaves of plants and the leaves the plant
*carbon cycle
-carbon is a component of all living things
-it moves between the biotic and abiotic world, mostly between atmospheric or dissolved CO2 in water and photosynthesizing organisms
***Most of Earth’s carbon in not cycled but is stored in. one of three major carbon-rich deposits:
- Plants
2.Oceans
3.Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas)
CO2
CO2 is a greenhouse gas and is causing climate change
*Nitrogen fixing bacteria
-Nitrogen must be taken from the atmosphere and ‘fixed’ by special soil bacteria in order to be available to the biotic environment.
*Limiting Factors
-The factor that restricts the size of population
-can be biotic- availability of food/mates
-can be abiotic- access to water/temperature/sunlight
*Competition
two individuals fight for the same resource
*predation
on individual feeds off another
*mutualism
two individuals benefit from each other
*Parasitism
one individual lives in or on, and feeds on another host organism
*commensalism
one benefits and the other one neither benefits nor is harmed
*carrying capacity
the maximum population of a species that an ecosystem can sustain. it can be altered naturally or by human activity.
*Biomes
a large geographical region defined by climate (precipitation & temperature) with a specific set of biotic and abiotic factors
*tundra biome
-Canada’s most northern biome
-a cold desert(frozen ground most of the year)
-Short growing season for the plants with low temperatures
-slow decomposition rates and nutrients are cycled slowly
-Barren-ground caribou and polar bear
*Boreal Forest Biome
-Largest biome in canada
-rainfall and warm summer support the growth of trees
-Conifers are the dominant trees
-with their needle-like leaves, they can withstand harsh winters
-slow decomposition rate due to the acidic properties of decomposed conifer needles
-The forest floor is covered with shade tolerant and slow-growing plants like mosses and firms
*Grassland Biome
-grassland of prairie
-get some rainfall but not enough to support trees
-black earth of grassland is one of the most fertile soils in the world
-high temperature promotes decomposition which cycles nutrients back to the soil
-bison
*Temperate Deciduous Forest Biome
-diverse forest made up of maple,oak,ash,ect.
-growing season is longer and decomposition rates are faster
-temperature does not reach extremely low
-ideal for humans
-a lot of plants and animal species live in this biome
-humans have replaced large portions of this biome with farmland, roads, and cities
*Mountain Forest Biome
-located in British Columbia and a little bit of Alberta
-Temperature vary with elevation, cool summer, windy
-fast-flowing rivers
-heavy precipitation
-Poor soil quality due to erosion and acidity
-dominant plats are coniferous and trees and ferns
-black and grizzly bears, elk
What is a sustainable ecosystem and what can make it not sustainable
a biological environment and a network of habitats that can survive and support themselves without the need for outside help. Human messing around with this can make it a non sustainable ecosystem.
where does all of the light on earth come from
the main source of energy is the radiant energy or light energy from the sun
Why are there more trees in a forest then animals
the answer depends on the relationship between the species. Each species is influenced and limited by its surroundings and by the resources it requires.
what process allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy? Where does this occur? What types of organisms use this process?
Photosynthesis coverts light energy into chemical energy. Producers use this process
Why are populations healthy and stable when there is equilibrium?
populations are healthy and stable when there is an equilibrium because every thing is balanced and unaffected as it should be.
Ecology
study of life
