unit 1

Question 1

what are producers

Answer 1

organisms that are able to use the sun’s energy to produce food for themselves

Question 2

consumers (heterotrophs)

Answer 2

organisms that are not able to make their own food, must obtain these molecules by consuming other organisms

Question 3

how much sun energy reaches earths surface

Answer 3

10^22 Joules each day

Question 4

three outcomes for radiant energy

Answer 4

30% - reflected back to space by clouds, particles in the atmosphere or from land
19% - absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, this can heat the atmosphere
51% - reaches Earths surface, warms the planets surface
- only 1-2% of this is used for
photosynthesis

Question 5

black smokers

Answer 5

deep sea vents spew out hydrogen sulfide-containing water that looks like clouds of dark smoke

Question 6

chemosynthetic producers

Answer 6

heat resistant vent organisms that cannot rely on photosynthesis, microorganisms are able to split the hydrogen sulfide molecules spewing from the deep sea vents, the bacteria captures energy stored in the chemical bonds of the molecules, sulfuric acid is produced as a byproduct of this process

Question 7

primary consumers

Answer 7

herbivores, first eaters of plants and other producers (insects, snails, clams)

Question 8

secondary consumers

Answer 8

carnivores that eat mainly herbivores (spiders, frogs)

Question 9

tertiary consumers

Answer 9

carnivores that eat secondary consumers (crabs and blind fish)

Question 10

decomposers

Answer 10

obtains their energy-rich molecules by eating or absorbing leftover or waste matter, important to the biosphere because they return organic and inorganic matter to the soil, air, and water, recyclers of the biosphere

Question 11

first law of thermodynamics

Answer 11

energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be converted from one object to another

Question 12

second law of thermodynamics

Answer 12

some energy is always dispersed as unusable heat

Question 13

ecosystem

Answer 13

made up of all the organisms that live in an area and the physical environment of that area

Question 14

radio synthesis

Answer 14

microorganisms converting energy from decaying radioactive material into chemical energy

Question 15

tropic level

Answer 15

a feeding level through which energy and matter are transferred

Question 16

first trophic level

Answer 16

provides all the chemical energy required to fuel the other trophic levels, consists or producers

Question 17

food chain

Answer 17

model that shows the linear pathways through which food is transferred from producers to primary consumers to higher trophic levels

Question 18

food web

Answer 18

model of food (energy) transfer in an ecosystem that shows the connections among food chains

Question 19

energy transfer

Answer 19

the length of a food chain has limits because the laws of thermodynamics limit the amount of energy that can be transferred from one trophic level to another

Question 20

rule of 10

Answer 20

only 10% of the energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level

Question 21

how organisms can be identified by

Answer 21

-how they obtain food (producers, herbivores, carnivores)
-trophic levels (define feeding relationships)
-role in ecosystem (primary consumers, secondary consumers)

Question 22

how energy is lost at each level

Answer 22

-life functions
-lost heat
-lost to waste (poop)

Question 23

ecological pyramids

Answer 23

models of feeding relationships

Question 24

pyramid of numbers

Answer 24

shows how many organisms are at each trophic level, can be inverted if producers are large in size ex.) trees vs. grass

Question 25

pyramid of biomass

Answer 25

dry mass of organisms per unit area, can be inverted with ocean food chains ex.) zooplankton consumes phytoplankton almost as rapidly as it reproduces

Question 26

pyramid of energy

Answer 26

shows the total amount of energy transferred through each trophic level, always upright

Question 27

bio magnification

Answer 27

persistent substance build up in food chains and accumulate over time (ppm)
1ppm = 1mg/1kg

Question 28

evapotranspiration

Answer 28

the combined transpiration and evaporation from a terrestrial area

Question 29

cohesion

Answer 29

attraction between water molecules

Question 30

adhesion

Answer 30

attraction between water and another thing, provides an upward force in water

Question 31

properties of water

Answer 31

-water is a universal solvent
-water has a relatively high boiling and melting point
-water has special adhesive and cohesive properties
-water has a high heat capacity

Question 32

metabolic water

Answer 32

the water produced by cellular respiration

Question 33

hydrologic cycle

Answer 33

can connect ecosystem separated by great distances, involves all phases of water

Question 34

water vapour

Answer 34

green house gas, traps heat in the atmosphere but also transfers heat

Question 35

ocean currents

Answer 35

transfers warm water from hotter to cooler regions, the warm water can heat the air, moderating the temperature over nearby land

Question 36

water molecule

Answer 36

consists of two hydrogen atoms that are covalently bonded to one oxygen atom, hydrogen is positive, oxygen is negative, making water a polar molecule

Question 37

hydrogen bond

Answer 37

weak attraction between hydrogen and oxygen, enables water to dissolve a variety of substances

Question 38

high boiling point

Answer 38

a large amount of energy is needed to break the many hydrogen bonds in a volume of water, only when the hydrogen bonds are broken can water start to boil

Question 39

density of ice/water

Answer 39

ice is less dense than liquid water, when water freezes, it expands because hydrogen bonds hold the water molecules in an open crystal structure, when ice melts, the structure beams down and loosened molecules pack more closely to fill in the spaces, increasing the density

Question 40

rapid cycling

Answer 40

substances that are moving through the environment, from reservoir to reservoir

Question 41

slow cycling

Answer 41

when substances accumulate and are unavailable to organisms