Topic 11 Ecosystem Ecology

Question 1

Ecosystems can be…

Answer 1

Open: necessary resources are renewed and exchanged on a regular basis.

Closed: maintains itself on a LIMITED amount of resources entrenched in that particular system

Question 2

What is a biome?

Answer 2

LARGE ecological areas with fauna and flora adapted to their environment.

Question 3

Which are the 5 categories of biomes?

Answer 3

Desert, aquatic, forest, grassland and tundra.

Question 4

Which are three essential components of ecosystems:

Answer 4

Producers or autotrophs: All photosynthetic organisms, chemosynthetic. They obtain energy from the sunlight or chemical reactions.

Consumers or heterotrophs: Organisms that consume autotrophs, and heterotrophs.

Decomposers: Those organisms that decompose organic matter.

Question 5

What is primary productivity?

Answer 5

Measure of the rate at which new organic matter is developed through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis in producer organisms.

Question 6

What is secondary productivity?

Answer 6

The rate at which consumers convert chemical energy from their food into their own biomass.

Question 7

What is matter flow velocity and movement pattern?

Answer 7

The speed and path taken by all chemical elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, and others.

Question 8

What is the nervy flow velocity and movement pattern?

Answer 8

The speed and path taken by the energy through the components of the ecosystem.

Question 9

What is trophic structure?

Answer 9

The way in which organisms are ORGANIZED within the ecosystem according to the type of food they consume.

Question 10

Which are the 2 types of trophic structures?

Answer 10

Trophic level. # of times in which ENERGY passes from one organism to another.
Connectivity level in a trophic web. # of food LINKS among species.

Question 11

What is the decomposition rate?

Answer 11

The velocity in which the material produced by an organism is decomposed into smaller chemical components.

Question 12

What is the ecological efficacy?

Answer 12

Measurement of energy passing through trophic levels. Energy percentage produced by a plant and the amount transferred to another organism.

Question 13

What is biomass?

Answer 13

Energy amount accumulated within living beings from an ecosystem.

Question 14

Which are the biogeochemical cycles?

Answer 14

Energy flux(open system) and mass flux

Question 15

Percentage of energy that our planet receives:

Answer 15

10% ultraviolet radiation (UV)
45% visible light
45% infrared light.

(only 1% is captured by plants and other photosynthetic organisms which transform solar energy into biomass energy that is going to pass through the food chain)

Question 16

Which are the three types of energy?

Answer 16

Light
Chemical
Caloric

Question 17

What is thermodynamics?

Answer 17

Science that studies the processes related to the exchange of heat and energy

Question 18

The First Law of Thermodynamics states that:

Answer 18

Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed.

Question 19

Explain photosynthesis

Answer 19

This process is performed by PRODUCERS, with photosynthetic pigmentation. They
convert SOLAR energy(water and CO2) into CHEMICAL energy, which is used to make organic compounds essential to life.

Question 20

Explain respiration(opposite to photosynthesis)

Answer 20

It is the process of absorbing oxygen to oxidize hydrogen molecules (glucose, the basic disintegration molecule during the process) in order to produce the necessary energy to maintain organic functions. This process is performed by animals and human beings as well.

Question 21

What is a food chain?

Answer 21

relationships among living beings where the energy is transferred from an organism to another.

Question 22

Which are the levels of a food chain?

Answer 22

Producers: they occupy the first trophic level. They are photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophic organisms: plants, algae and some kinds of bacteria.
Primary consumers or herbivores: Second trophic level. They feed on producers, such as a deer.
Secondary consumers or small carnivores: They occupy the third trophic level, such as wolves.
Tertiary consumers or major carnivores: They occupy the fourth trophic level, such as scavenger birds.

Question 23

When two food chains unite, is called:

Answer 23

Trophic web

Question 24

Transfer of energy between each trophic level is given through the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states:

Answer 24

each time energy is transferred, a portion of it is used as a form of work, while the rest is lost as heat

Question 25

Other type of schemes used to understand trophic webs are

Answer 25

Trophic pyramids

Question 26

There are 3 types of pyramids

Answer 26

Pyramid of numbers. Depicts the total amount of organisms by the unit of surface or volume in the ecosystem.
Pyramid of mass. Depicts the amount of living matter on each trophic level, measured in kilograms or calories.
Pyramid of energy. Depicts the amount of energy on each trophic level.

Question 27

There are other biogeochemical cycles:

Answer 27

carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur

Question 28

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 28

Systems conformed by biotic communities related to their abiotic environment, in which they interact.

group of organisms (biocenosis) which vital processes relate to each other and develop according to the physical factors in the same environment (biotope)