Topic 6: Ecosystems Flashcards
What 2 types of judgements are required for solving environmental issues?
- Technical judgements.
- Value judgements.
What is Ecology?
The science used to understand the environment and how it works.
What is a species population?
A group of the same species that occurs in the same place at the same time.
What is a community?
A number of different species populations.
What is an ecosystem?
All the living organisms in a community as well as the abiotic factors they interact with.
What are the levels of organisation of species?
- Biosphere.
- Ecosystem.
- Community.
- Population.
- Organism.
What are the 5 types of ecology?
- Organismal ecology.
- Population ecology.
- Community ecology.
- Ecosystem ecology.
- Biosphere ecology.
What are living components of an ecosystem?
Biotic.
What are nonliving components of an ecosystem?
Abiotic.
What is the interaction between abiotic and biotic ecosystem components?
Abiotic components influence biotic components.
Biotic components influence abiotic components.
What is energy flow?
The way energy is passed through a system.
What does an ecological systems approach aim to understand?
Energy flow and the cycling of nutrients.
What is characteristic of energy flow?
Unidirectional. Does not cycle.
Requires continuous input of energy into an ecosystem.
What is the basic energy flow order?
Energy source -> autotrophs -> heterotrophs
What are autotrophs?
Organisms capable of synthesising all their required organic molecules from simple inorganic substances and an energy source.
What are heterotrophs?
Organisms that cannot synthesis complex organic molecules and must feed on organic material formed by other organisms to obtain energy and necessary molecular building blocks for metabolism and growth.
How does material cycle in basic terms?
Chemical materials are cycled from the abiotic environment, through living organisms, and back to the abiotic environment.
What is the ultimate energy source for the biosphere?
Sunlight.
What percentage of organic matter in the biosphere is autotrophic?
99%
What percentage of visibility light is converted to chemical energy?
1%