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AP Environmental Science > Unit 1 > Flashcards

Unit 1 Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Explain “Emergence” and give an example.

A
  • Property displayed by a complex adaptive system

- What parts of a system do together that they would not do alone

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2
Q

What is a biome?

A
  • A collection of plants and animals that share common characteristics for the environment they exist in
  • A distinct biological community that has formed in response to a shared physical climate
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3
Q

What are the layers of vegetation in a forest?

A

Overstory: Uppermost canopy layer (Giant trees)
Midstory: Intermediate canopy layer (Medium height trees)
Understory: Lowermost canopy layer (Shrubs and small trees)

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4
Q

What is the main cause of climate change?

A

Human manipulation of the carbon cycle

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5
Q

How should we respond to climate change?

A

Adaptation through the use of natural processes and ecosystems

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6
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A community of living organisms in conjunction with the non-living components of their environment, interacting as a system.

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7
Q

What types of interactions occur within ecosystems?

A

Predator-Prey, Symbiosis, Competition

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8
Q

What is the relationship between predator and prey?

A

If the number of a certain prey increases, so does the population of that species’ predator. Same vice versa.

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9
Q

What are the five trophic levels?

A

Primary Producers (Plants and Algae), Primary Consumers (Herbivores), Secondary Consumers (Carnivores that eat herbivores), Tertiary Consumers (Apex Predators)

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10
Q

What factors OTHER than predation might cause the populations of predators or prey to fluctuate?

A

Disease, Waste Accumulation, Competition, etc.

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11
Q

What are density-dependent limiting factors? Give some examples.

A

Factors that affect the per capita growth rate of a population differently depending on how dense the population already is

Ex. Competition, Predation, Disease, Parasitism
Note: These factors tend to be biotic

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12
Q

What are density-independent limiting factors? Give some examples.

A

Factors that affect the per capita growth rate independent of how dense the population is

Ex. Weather, Natural Disasters, Seasonal Cycles, Pollution

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13
Q

How does resource availability influence predator-prey relationships?

A

Lack of resources equals a decrease in prey population, and consequently, a decrease in predator population. In contrast, an increase in resources results in an increase in prey population, and thus predator population as well.

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14
Q

What is symbiosis?

A

A long-term interaction between two species in an ecosystem

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15
Q

What is mutualism? Give an example.

A

A symbiotic relationship between two species where both receive a benefit that results in an increased chance of survival and reproduction

Ex. Pollination, Ants/Acacia Trees, Clownfish/Sea Anemones

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16
Q

What is commensalism? Give an example.

A

A species interaction where one species receives a benefit and the other is unaffected by the interaction

Ex. Scavenging, Owls nesting in trees, Hermit crabs and discarded snail shells

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17
Q

What is parasitism? Give an example

A

A relationship where one organism lives on or inside of another. The parasite benefits, but the host is harmed by the relationship.

Ex. Flees/Ticks on mammals, Intestinal tapeworms, Mosquitos biting warm-blooded animals

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18
Q

What is the difference between parasitism and predation?

A

While parasitism harms the host, it rarely results in death. Parasites do not hunt and kill their prey like is done in predation.

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19
Q

What is the advantage for the parasite not to kill the host organism?

A

Parasites rely on the host organism to live, so extinction of that species would be catastrophic.

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20
Q

How does the availability of resources influence symbiotic interactions?

A

The resources which fuel species relationships help to determine the ferocity with which those interactions occur.

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21
Q

When does competition occur?

A

Competition occurs when individuals of the same or different species struggle to obtain the same limiting resource.

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22
Q

What is a limiting resource?

A

A vital biotic or abiotic resource that has the ability to constrain a population size or stop a population from growing

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23
Q

What is interspecific competition and when does it occur?

A

Interspecific competition is competition between DIFFERENT species when they must fight over a shared, limiting resource.

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24
Q

Why does resource partitioning occur?

A

Species seek to partition resources to reduce competition.

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25
Q

What is intraspecific competition and when does it occur?

A

Intraspecific competition is competition within a SINGLE species. This occurs when individuals must fight for the same resources that all members of the species need to survive.

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26
Q

How does intraspecific competition make a species stronger?

A

The “fittest” individual in the interaction gains access to the resource, and survives to reproduce. Thus, the species as a whole becomes stronger and better adapted to fit its environment.

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27
Q

Identify three biotic or abiotic limiting resources that might drive competition.

A

Food, Disease, Temperature, Climate, Predators, etc.

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28
Q

How does resource partitioning reduce competition between a species?

A

Species can have a long-term coexistence with one another in the same habitat

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29
Q

How does the availability of resources drive competition?

A

The greater the availability of resources, the less the need to compete for those resources. Same vice versa.

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30
Q

What are the levels of ecology?

A

Biome (Largest), Ecosystem, Community, Population, Organism (Smallest)

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31
Q

What abiotic conditions affect terrestrial biomes?

A

Temperature, Latitude/Altitude, Precipitation, Soil Type, Topography, Wind Speed

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32
Q

What effects productivity and biodiversity within a biome?

A

Hot, humid regions have greater productivity and biodiversity than that of cold, dry regions.

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33
Q

What are the two most important factors in determining a biome on land?

A

Temperature, Precipitation

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34
Q

What is vertical zonation?

A

The higher the elevation, the cooler the temperature. Thus, because temperature determines biomes, it can be concluded that different biomes occur at different elevations.

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35
Q

What are the divisions of earth’s water?

A

Freshwater Biomes:

  • Streams/Rivers
  • Wetlands: Marshes, Bogs, Swamps
  • Ponds
  • Lakes

Marine Biomes:

  • Intertidal (extreme conditions)
  • Coral Reefs
  • Open Ocean
  • Saltwater Wetlands: Marshes, Swamps
  • Estuaries
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36
Q

What are abiotic conditions that affect aquatic biomes?

A

Depth, Light (Photosynthesis), Temperature, Velocity (Currents), Salinity, Oxygen, Nutrients (Nitrates and Phosphates), Suspended Matter, Bottom Substrate

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37
Q

Where is the best place in a freshwater biome for plants to live?

A

The photic zone (Surface) due to the amount of sunlight, and thus the high rate of photosynthesis

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38
Q

Why is there limited biodiversity and productivity in the profundal zone?

A

No light = no photosynthesis

Note: At the same time, organisms decompose here and recycle certain nutrients

39
Q

What are the best freshwater biomes for productivity and biodiversity?

A

The Wetlands (Marshes and Swamps)

40
Q

What are the best saltwater biomes for productivity and biodiversity?

A

Estuaries and Coral Reefs

41
Q

What are the zones in freshwater stratification?

A 
Littoral Zone (Surface)
Limnetic Zone (Middle)
Photic Zone (Deep)
Benthic Zone (Edges/Bottoms)
42
Q

What are the zones in marine stratification?

A 
Intertidal Zone (Surface)
Pelagic Zone (Middle *Majority of the ocean*)
Photic (Deep)
Aphotic (Very Deep)
Benthic Zone (Edges/Bottoms)
43
Q

Where in aquatic biomes is there the greatest amount of nutrients?

A

The surface (nutrients from the land) and the bottom (nutrients from decomposition)

44
Q

What is upwelling and why is it important?

A

Upwelling is the movement of deep, nutrient-rich water to shallow, warmer waters, which generates more fertile ecosystems.

45
Q

In which zones does photosynthesis occur? Chemosynthesis?

A

Photosynthesis -
Freshwater: Littoral Zone, Limnetic Zone
Marine: Intertidal Zone, Pelagic Zone, Photic Zone
Chemosynthesis -
Marine: Aphotic

46
Q

What is chemosynthesis?

A

The synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.

47
Q

What is the role of photosynthesis in a fast carbon cycle?

A

Photosynthesis takes the gaseous carbon dioxide and converts it into glucose.

48
Q

What is the role of cellular respiration in a fast carbon cycle?

A

Cellular respiration takes glucose, breaks it down in the presence of oxygen, and then sends the gaseous carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

49
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A
  • The movement of atoms and molecules containing the element carbon between sources and sinks
  • A biogeochemical cycle, which is a self-regulating, naturally occurring movement of chemical molecules through various sources and sinks (reservoirs)
50
Q

Where does carbon get stored?

A

This carbon is stored in the bodies of producers and consumers

51
Q

What is the role of decomposition in the carbon cycle?

A
  • Decomposition returns carbon to the atmosphere through microbial respiration
  • Decomposition breaks up the bodies of dead organisms, which results in stored soil carbon and ocean sediments also storing carbon.
  • Sedimentation moves stored carbon deeper into the ocean, burying those sediments with time and pressure, until they are transformed into limestone, coal, or oil and gas.
52
Q

What is limestone?

A

Limestone is the bedrock for many aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

53
Q

What carbon sinks (reservoirs) hold carbon for long periods of time?

A

Soil, Fossils, Deep Ocean/Sediments

54
Q

What carbon sinks (reservoirs) hold carbon for short periods of time?

A

Surface Ocean, Plants, Atmosphere

55
Q

What biological processes affect the length of time carbon spends sequestered?

A

Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration

56
Q

What is the role of fossil fuel combustion on the carbon cycle?

A

When humans burn fossil fuels (made out of carbon), carbon escapes back into the atmosphere.

57
Q

What processes allow long-term carbon reservoirs to return to quick carbon cycling?

A
  • Extraction and Combustion of Fossil Fuels

- Uplift and weathering of limestone

58
Q

What is the nitrogen cycle?

A
  • The movement of atoms and molecules containing the element nitrogen between sources and sinks
  • A biogeochemical cycle, which is a self-regulating, naturally occurring movement of chemical molecules through various sources and sinks (reservoirs)
59
Q

What are the four biogeochemical cycles (that we need to know for APES) and what do they do?

A

The carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and hydrologic cycles help to stabilize and regulate the flow of matter through ecosystems. They can also be disrupted by human activity.

60
Q

Why is the nitrogen cycle important?

A
  • Major component of nucleic acids (building blocks of protein) and amino acids (building blocks of DNA)
  • Nitrogen is a limiting factor/resource
  • Producers, the basis of the trophic structure, require nitrogen to grow
  • Nitrogen makes up 78% of the gases in the troposphere (lowest region of the atmosphere)
61
Q

What are the steps of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Fixation, Ammonification, Nitrification, Assimilation, Denitrification

62
Q

What occurs during the fixation stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Nitrogen in the atmosphere is fixed biotically through microbes in soil/root nodules, and abiotically through lightning.

63
Q

What occurs during the ammonification stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Ammonia is converted to ammonium by bacteria living in the soil. Ammonia is also added by the decay of organic material.

64
Q

What occurs during the nitrification stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Ammonium is converted into nitrite and then to nitrate.

65
Q

What occurs during the assimilation stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Nitrate is up-taken by plants through roots and then animals.

66
Q

What occurs during the denitrification stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Nitrate is converted back to nitrogen and returned to the atmosphere by soil bacteria.

67
Q

What drives the nitrogen cycle?

A

The nitrogen cycle is primarily driven by microbial action, which is a biotic portion of the cycle (ex. bacterial transformations)

68
Q

What is the phosphorus cycle?

A

The phosphorus cycle is a slow one, mainly driven by geologic processes. This cycle does not contain an atmospheric phase.

69
Q

Why is the phosphorus cycle important?

A
  • Phosphorus is a limiting factor in ecosystems
  • Producers need phosphorus to grow, and producers are the basis of an ecosystem’s trophic structure. This makes phosphorus vitally important in ecosystems (ex. fertilizer contains phosphorus because of its ability to aid the growth of producers).
70
Q

What are the steps of the phosphorus cycle?

A

Uplift and Weathering, Assimilation, Runoff, Assimilation, Lithification

71
Q

What occurs during the uplift and weathering stage of the phosphorus cycle?

A

Sediments and rocks are a major reservoir of phosphorus. In this stage, phosphorus in the rocks is uplifted, and then dissolved in soil through the process of weathering.

72
Q

What occurs during the processes of assimilation of the phosphorus cycle?

A

1) Soil phosphorus is dissolved into lakes or streams, or taken up into terrestrial food webs.
2) Phosphorus is taken up by marine producer organisms, or is dissolved in the ocean.

73
Q

What occurs during the process of runoff of the phosphorus cycle?

A

Dissolved phosphorus from lakes, streams, or terrestrial food webs travels to aquatic food webs

74
Q

What occurs during the process of lithification in the phosphorus cycle?

A

Phosphorus sedimented at the bottom of the ocean becomes rocks with time and pressure.

75
Q

What is the major reservoir for phosphorus?

A

Sediments

76
Q

What is the hydrologic cycle?

A

The hydrologic cycle is the movement of water in its various solid, liquid, and gaseous phases, between sources and sinks. This cycle is driven by the sun, and oceans are the primary reservoir of water on Earth.

77
Q

Why is the hydrologic cycle important?

A

Water is essential to life on earth.

78
Q

How is water absorbed into the atmosphere?

A

Water is brought into the atmosphere through evaporation, sublimation, and evapotranspiration.

Note: Sublimation is when water goes directly from a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid state.

79
Q

How is water brought back down from the atmosphere?

A

Water is brought down through condensation, precipitation, deposition, fog drip, and dew. This water collects in ice, snow, glaciers, rivers, soil, freshwater lakes, saline lakes, wetlands, and oceans.

80
Q

What is the purpose of snowmelt runoff and surface runoff in the water cycle?

A

The processes of snowmelt runoff and surface runoff help to return water to rivers and freshwater lakes.

81
Q

How does water enter terrestrial ecosystems in the water cycle?

A

Water is able to penetrate into terrestrial ecosystems through infiltration, seepage, and percolation. After seeping into the the ground, water can seep back up into springs and lakes, and this is called recharge and flow. However, water can also end up deeper underground in groundwater storage that eventually ends up back in the oceans.

82
Q

What is cellular respiration?

A

To contrast photosynthesis, in the presence of oxygen, glucose is broken down to produce water and carbon dioxide.

83
Q

What is cellular respiration?

A

To contrast photosynthesis, in the presence of oxygen, glucose is broken down to produce energy, water, and carbon dioxide.

84
Q

What is net primary productivity and how do you calculate it?

A

Net primary productivity is the rate of energy storage by photosynthesizers in a given area, after subtracting the energy lost to respiration (measured in kcal/m^2/year energy per unit area per unit time)

Gross Primary Productivity (Photosynthesis from Producers) - Cellular Respiration of Producers = Net Primary Productivity

GPP - R = NPP

85
Q

What are the 10 biomes?

A

Tundra, Desert, Grassland, Shrubland, Savanna, Taiga (Boreal Forest), Temperate Seasonal Forest, Tropical Seasonal Forest, Temperate Rainforest, Tropical Rainforest

86
Q

In which biome(s) is primary productivity the greatest and why?

A

The biomes at the top right hand corner of an “Annual Precipitation vs. Average Temperature” graph (Tropical Rainforests, Temperate Rainforests, Tropical Seasonal Forests) typically have the greatest primary productivity. In these regions there’s greater sunlight and moisture than in colder regions, which leads to more photosynthesis.

87
Q

How do you measure the rate of photosynthesis to calculate the net primary productivity of something?

A
  1. Measure carbon dioxide taken up vs. carbon dioxide released
  2. Measure productivity in the light vs in the dark
  3. Measure the oxygen released
  4. Measure glucose production
88
Q

Why are there so few apex predators?

A

Much of the energy from glucose and from other nutrients that are eaten when one animal eats another is lost as you move up the trophic levels. The loss of energy is attributed to respiration, kinetic energy, and body growth - the second law of thermodynamics.

89
Q

What is the second law of thermodynamics?

A

As energy is used, it dissipates and degrades.

90
Q

What is the relationship between net primary productivity and the trophic levels?

A

If a biome has great primary productivity, it means that it has a wide base for its trophic levels. There are many primary producers which allow its ecosystems to flourish.

91
Q

What do food webs show?

A

Food webs demonstrate the flow of energy among trophic levels.

Food webs demonstrate the flow of matter through trophic levels (ex. nitrogen compounds from primary consumer passed to secondary consumer).

92
Q

How much energy is passed from one trophic level to the next?

A

Approximately 10%

93
Q

What types of biomes are more susceptible to stressors?

A

Less productive biomes (ex. tundra) are more susceptible due to their simple food chains and small base trophic levels. These biomes are susceptible to habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, human pollution, and overharvesting. Food webs are more resilient to these stressors because removing one aspect will not fully affect the community.

94
Q

What is a trophic cascade and what are the positive and negative aspects to it?

A

If there is no apex predator, the next highest trophic level will overpopulate and overgraze the trophic level below that. That lower trophic level, typically the primary consumers, if decreased in size, will increase the number of primary producers as the consumers aren’t grazing them as frequently. Introduce the apex predator again, and the levels will begin to rebalance and rebound.

AP Environmental Science (9 decks)

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