Unit 1: Ecology Flashcards
Dissolved Oxygen
The amount of oxygen that is present in water
Turbidity
How hazy or cloudy the water is
pH
A measure of how acidic or basic a solution is
Nitrates
NO3-
Molecules made of nitrogen and oxygen
Eutrophication
The process by which nutrient pollution, such as from nitrogen and phosphorus, leads to excessive algae growth and subsequent oxygen depletion.
Why is nitrogen essential to support life?
It is what DNA and proteins are made of.
Why is phosphorus essential for living organisms?
It is a key component of DNA and RNA.
Where is most of the carbon on earth stored?
The ocean
How much energy gets cycled back to decomposers?
All of it
All the ____ that an animal does gets passed on to the consumer
Growth
If nitrogen-fixing bacteria were destroyed by a virus, the most likely result would be what?
A decrease in nitrogen compounds available to organisms
What event would most likely occur if the number of nitrogen-fixing bacteria were reduced within an ecosystem?
More nitrogen gas would be released into the atmosphere.
Which process converts organic nitrogen into an inorganic form that can be used by plants?
Decomposition
Through what activity do animals get carbon they need for their bodies?
Eating
How does nitrogen in the atmosphere become beneficial to plants and eventually to animals?
Nitrogen must be converted into a useful form by bacteria.
Nitrification
Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate (N4+ to NO2- to NO3-)
Denitrification
Nitrogen compounds (nitrite and nitrate) into nitrogen gases
Ammonification
Dead plant and animal matter decomposes and nitrogen is released NO−3 → NO−2 → NH+4
Heterotrophs
An organism that eats another organism
Detrivore
An organism that feeds on dead matter
Abiotic
Not Alive
Biotic
Alive
Producer
Makes glucose
Consumer
Eats plants or animals; eats another organism to survive
Decomposer
Decomposes dead organisms into detritus
Ecological pyramid
The amount of energy passed from each trophic level; about 10%
Biomass
Renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals
Trophic Level
The position an organism occupies in the food chain
Food Web
A larger, interconnected food chain
Primary succession
Plants and animals colonize a barren, lifeless habitat.
Secondary succession
Occurs in areas where there was previous soil and vegetation
Pioneer species
Lichen and moss
Biodiversity
The variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from genes and bacteria to entire ecosystems such as forests or coral reefs.
Ecosystem diversity
The variety of different habitats, communities, and ecological processes.
Species diversity
The number of different species that are represented in a given community.
Genetic diversity
The biological variation that occurs within species that makes it possible for them to adapt when the environment changes
Resilience
The ability of a system to continue functioning amid and recover from a disturbance.
Ecosystem services
The direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide humans
Climate change
Long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns
Global warming
The long-term heating of Earth’s surface due to human activities
Deforestation
The removal and destruction of a forest from land that is then converted to non-forest use
Invasive species
Species that are non-native to the ecosystem under consideration
Pollutant
A substance that pollutes something, especially water or the atmosphere.
Ozone layer
It is in the stratosphere and it absorbs a portion of the radiation from the sun, preventing it from reaching the planet’s surface.
Smog
A type of intense air pollution.
Biological magnification
Harmful chemicals enter the food chain
Renewable resource
Resources that continue to exist despite being consumed or that can replenish themselves over a period of time even as they are used.
Nonrenewable resource
Energy resources that will run out or will not be replenished in our lifetimes
Algal Bloom
Toxin-producing algae grow excessively in a body of water
Density-independent factors
Are not influenced by a species population size
Density-dependent factors
They have varying impacts according to population size. Different species populations in the same ecosystem will be affected differently.
