Textbook: Chapter 22 - Decomposition and Biogeochemical Cycles

Question 1

Immobilization

Answer 1

Conversion of an element from inorganic to organic form in microbial or plant tissue, rendering the nutrient unavailable to other organisms

Question 2

Internal cycling

Answer 2

Movement or cycling of nutrients through components of ecosystems

Question 3

Leaf pack

Answer 3

Areas of accumulated leaf litter in stream ecosystems; term also refers to litterbags used in steam decompostition experiments

Question 4

Mineralization

Answer 4

Microbial breakdown of humus and other organic matter in soil to inorganic substances

Question 5

Nutrient spiraling

Answer 5

In flowing-water ecosystems, the combined processes of nutrient cycling and downstream transport

Question 6

Net mineralizationr ate

Answer 6

Difference between the rates of mineralization and immobilization

Question 7

Nutrient cycling

Answer 7

Pathway of an element or nutrient through the ecosystem, from assimilation by organisms to release by decomposition

Question 8

Pycnocline

Answer 8

Area in the water column where the highest rate of change in density occurs for a given change in depth

Question 9

Retranslocation

Answer 9

Recycling of nutrients within a plant

Question 10

Rhizosphere

Answer 10

Describes a region of the soil where plant roots function. it is an active zone of root growth and death, characterized by intense microbial and fungal activity.

Question 11

Soil microbial loop

Answer 11

Process of supplementing carbon to microbial decomposers in the rhizosphere, enhancing the decompoisiton of soil organic matter and subsequently releasing mineral nutrients for plant uptake by microbial grazers

Question 12

Tidal subsidy

Answer 12

Nutrients carried to coastal ecosystems and wastes carried away by tidal cycles