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ESS Midterm 4 > Section 2 > Flashcards

Section 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Ecologists study ecology in order to understand the ___ and ___ of life within Earth’s ecosystems.

A

Abundance

Diversity

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2
Q

Change is a constant process in ecosystems that is driven by ___, ___ and ___.

A

Climate shifts
Species movement
Ecological succession

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3
Q

___ has an impact on ecosystems because global circulation patterns and climate zones.

A

Geography

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4
Q

___, ___, ___, and ___ determine what types of life are most likely to flourish in an area.

A

Temperature
Moisture
Light
Nutrient availability

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5
Q

___ are broad geographic zones whose plants and animals are adapted to different climate patterns.

A

Biomes

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6
Q

___ biomes are typically named for their characteristic types of vegetation, which influences what kinds of animals will live there.

A

Land

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7
Q

___ biomes cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface.

A

Aquatic

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8
Q

Organisms that live in temporary ___ environments must be adapted to a wide range of conditions and be able to disperse between habitats.

A

freshwater

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9
Q

__- represent consistent sets of conditions for life.

A

Biomes

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10
Q

___ areas generally have more plant and animal biodiversity.

A

Tropical

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11
Q

___ is the scientific study of relationships in the natural world.

A

Ecology

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12
Q

Biodiversity is measured in ___.

A

Species richness

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13
Q

___ refers to the pattern of tropical areas having more plant and animal biodiversity.

A

Latitudinal biodiversity gradient

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14
Q

Higher ____ in the tropics allows for more species.

A

Productivity

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15
Q

The tropics were not severely affected by ___ and have had more time for species to develop and adapt.

A

Glaciation

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16
Q

Environments are more stable and predictable in the ___, with fairly consistent temperatures and rainfall levels.

A

Tropics

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17
Q

More ___ and ___ limit competition in the tropics, which allows more species to coexist.

A

Predators

Pathogens

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18
Q

Disturbances occur in the tropics at frequencies that promote high ___.

A

Successional diversity

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19
Q

Evidence is strongest for the proposal that a ___ tends to produce larger numbers of species.

A

Stable, predictable environment

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20
Q

“The ecosystem may be formally defined as the system composed of ___ processes active within a space-time unit of any magnitude, i.e. The biotic community plus it’s abiotic environment”

A

Physical-chemical-biological

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21
Q

A ___ is a major ecological community type that covers a large geographic area with similar climatic features.

A

Biome

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22
Q

___ biomes cover 75% of the earth’s surface.

A

Aquatic

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23
Q

The characteristics of aquatic biomes are set by ___, ____, and ____.

A

Temperature
Light
Nutrients

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24
Q

Terrestrial biomes are controlled by their ___ and ___ regimes.

A

Temperature

Rainfall

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25
Q

___ characteristics vary from one biome to another, depending on local climate and geology.

A

Soil

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26
Q

One way to visualize major land biomes is to compare them based on their average ___ and ___, which combine to create a range of climates.

A

Temperature

Rainfall

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27
Q

___ is defined in thermodynamics as the capacity to do work.

A

Energy

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28
Q

___ energy is stored in chemical bonds.

A

Chemical

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29
Q

___ energy is the energy of motion.

A

kinetic

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30
Q

First law of thermodynamics…

A

Energy is not created nor destroyed; it can change forms but it must come from somewhere.

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31
Q

Second law of thermodynamics.

A

As energy flows through systems and changes from one form to another, less is available because some is always lost to heat.

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32
Q

The ultimate source of energy for animals is ___.

A

Plants

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33
Q

Animals cannot synthesize organic compounds, but they need complex ___ from plants or other animals.

A

Carbon

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34
Q

___ absorb nutrients, convert them into other forms, and discard wastes.

A

Organisms

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35
Q

Elements and compounds are cycled between ___ and ___ parts of ecosystems.

A

Biotic

Abiotic

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36
Q

Six elements account for 95% of all matter in living things:

A

C, H, N, O, P, S

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37
Q

___ nutrients are those that must be supplied for an organism to live.

A

Essential

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38
Q

For most plants ___ elements are essential nutrients.

A

Seventeen

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39
Q

A basic measure of how ecosystems capture light energy and make organic compounds is called ___ or ____.

A

Productivity

Production

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40
Q

Productivity, or production, refers to the production of ___ that forms the base of all ecosystems.

A

Biomass

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41
Q

___ is the total amount of living matter per unit area or volume of a habitat or ecosystem.

A

Biomass

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42
Q

___ is the rate of production of organic matter.

A

Productivity

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43
Q

___ is the amount of energy or material formed by an individual, population, community, or ecosystem.

A

Production

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44
Q

___ refers to the generation of biomass via fixation of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.

A

Primary production

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45
Q

___ is the energetic basis of almost all ecosystems except deep ocean hypo thermal vents.

A

Photosynthesis

46
Q

___ is the amount of carbon dioxide lost from an individual, population, community, or ecosystem.

A

Respiration

47
Q

Ecosystems maintain themselves by cycling __ and ___ obtained from external sources.

A

Energy

Nutrients

48
Q

At the ___ tropic level, primary producers use solar energy to produce organic plant material through photosynthesis.

A

First

49
Q

___ make up the second tropic level.

A

Herbivores

50
Q

Predators that eat herbivores comprise the ___ tropic level.

A

Third

51
Q

Organisms that feed at several tropic levels are classified at the ___ of the tropic levels at which they feed.

A

Highest

52
Q

About ___% of net energy production at one tropic level is passed on to the next.

A

10%

53
Q

Processes that reduce the energy transferred between tropic levels include ___, ___, ___, ___, ___.

A

Respiration
Growth and reproduction
Defecation
No predatory death

54
Q

___ of material that is consumed influences how efficiently energy is transferred.

A

Nutritional quality

55
Q

___ is the total amount of biomass produced by photosynthesis.

A

Gross primary productivity

56
Q

___ is gross primary production minus respiration by photosynthetic organisms.

A

Net primary productivity

57
Q

(Rate of photosynthesis) - (rate of respiration)

A

Net primary productivity

58
Q

___ is production by everything else, including metabolism and growth.

A

Secondary production.

59
Q

____ is plant matter.

A

Phytomass

60
Q

___ makes up 99% of all biomass on earth.

A

Phytomass

61
Q

___ makes up only 1% of biomass on earth, and is animal matter.

A

Zoo mass

62
Q

99.7% of biomass stored in plant matter is found in ____ ecosystems.

A

Terrestrial

63
Q

0.3% of total photo mass is found in ____ ecosystems.

A

Marine

64
Q

Ocean primary production is performed by small __ that rapidly turn over their biomass.

A

Phytoplankton

65
Q

In ___ ecosystems, temperature, rainfall, and nutrients control productivity.

A

Terrestrial

66
Q

In ___ ecosystems, light penetration and nutrients control productivity.

A

Marine

67
Q

Ecosystems support higher tropic levels through the conversion of ___ and ___ with sunlight as an energy source, to organic compounds.

A 
Inorganic carbon (CO2) 
Water
68
Q

The low rate of energy transfer between tropic levels makes ___ more important than producers in terms of energy flow.

A

Decomposers

69
Q

___ process large amounts of organic material and return nutrients to the ecosystem in inorganic form, which are then taken up again by primary producers.

A

Decomposers

70
Q

Energy is not recycled during ___, but rather is released, mostly as heat.

A

Decomposition

71
Q

___ in land ecosystems typically rises with temperature up to 30 C, after which it declines.

A

Productivity

72
Q

Productivity is positively correlated with ___.

A

Moisture

73
Q

On land, ___ is highest in warm wet zones in the tropics.

A

Productivity

74
Q

___ ecosystems have the lowest productivity because their climates are extremely hot and dry.

A

Desert Scrub

75
Q

Marine primary productivity is ___ near coastlines and other areas where upwelling brings nutrients to the surface, promoting plankton blooms.

A

High

76
Q

___ from land is a source of nutrients along the continental shelves.

A

Runoff

77
Q

___ and ___ have the highest net primary production in aquatic ecosystems.

A

Algal beds

Coral reefs

78
Q

Lowest rates of net primary production in aquatic ecosystems occur in ___ due to a lack of nutrients.

A

Open sea

79
Q

The number of trophic levels that an ecosystem can support depends on ____ ___, ___.

A

Energy entering the ecosystem
Energy loss between levels
Form/structure/physiology of organisms at each level

80
Q

Because of energy losses, terrestrial ecosystems typically have no more than ___ trophic levels.

A

Five

81
Q

Marine ecosystems typically have no more than __ trophic levels.

A

Seven

82
Q

A large fraction of the ___ that land plants produce cannot be consumed, so less energy travels up the food chain.

A

Biomass

83
Q

An important consequence of the loss of energy between trophic levels is that ___ collects in animal tissues.

A

Contaminants

84
Q

___ refers to the collection of contaminants in animal tissues.

A

Bioaccumulation

85
Q

Abrupt changes at the top of a food web can trigger domino effects in the ecosystem known as ____.

A

Trophic cascades

86
Q

___ refers to species that are so important to an ecosystem that they can influence many other trophic levels.

A

Keystone species

87
Q

___ is the number of individuals in the population.

A

Population size

88
Q

____ is how many individuals are in a particular area.

A

Population density

89
Q

___ is how the size of the population is changing over time.

A

Population growth

90
Q

Exponential growth works by leveraging increases in population size, and does not require increases in ____.

A

Population growth rates

91
Q

Each organism has a ___ that dictates how it spends its energy on growth, survival, and reproduction.

A

Life history strategy

92
Q

An organism’s ___ determines how it’s population will vary over time.

A

Life history strategy

93
Q

___ are species that produce many offspring, each with less chance of survival to adulthood.

A

R-selected

94
Q

___ species are potentially more adaptable to unstable environments.

A

R-selected

95
Q

___ are species that invest in fewer offspring, each with a better chance of survival to adult in stable environments.

A

K-selected

96
Q

Organisms that are ___ have the ability to grow their populations exponentially at a maximum rate when resources are abundant and population levels are below the carrying capacity.

A

R-selected

97
Q

The growth of ___ populations may be closer to a linear growth rate because they have fewer offspring and spend more time with their young.

A

K-selected

98
Q

Exponential and linear growth models are ___ of population growth.

A

Ideal extremes

99
Q

On a graph of time (x-axis) and population (y-axis), the slope of the line gives the ____.

A

Growth rate

100
Q

Relationship equation between rate of growth and population increase.

A

N(t) = rat + N(0)

101
Q

N(t) = rt + N(0)

N = ?

A

Population number

102
Q

N(t) = rt + N(0)

R = ?

A

Growth rate

103
Q

N(t) = rt + N(0)

T = ?

A

Time

104
Q

N(t) = rt + N(0)

N(0) = ?

A

Initial population at time 0

105
Q

The equation for an exponential growth curve is:

A

Y = e^x
Or
x = ln y

106
Q

Equation for exponential growth curve of a population “N” =

A

N(t) = N(0)e^(rt)

107
Q

N(t) = rt + N(0)

N(t) = ?

A

Population at time “t”

108
Q

The relationship for doubling time - the time it takes for the population to double (equation)

A

T = ln2/r

109
Q

Every organism divides its energy among three goals: ___, ___, and ___.

A

Growing
Surviving
Reproducing

110
Q

Ecologists refer to an organism’s allocation of energy as its ___.

A

Life history strategy

111
Q

___ organisms tend to be small, short-lived, and grow through boom-and-bust population cycles.

A

R-selected

112
Q

In a growing population, __ and ___ rates will not stay constant over time.

A

Survival

Reproduction

ESS Midterm 4 (4 decks)

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