Unit 2 Exam Flashcards
Habitat
the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
Ecosystem
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Biosphere
the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth (or analogous parts of other planets) occupied by living organisms.
Greenhouse Effect
a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat
Troposphere
the lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth’s surface to a height of about 3.7–6.2 miles (6–10 km), which is the lower boundary of the stratosphere.
Stratosphere
the layer of the earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 32 miles (50 km) above the earth’s surface (the lower boundary of the mesosphere).
Hydrosphere
all the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth’s surface, such as clouds.
Trophic Level
Organisms classified as producers or consumers based on source of nutrients
The eating level of an organism
Three Factors that Sustain the Earth’s Life
ONE WAY FLOW of high quality energy from the sun
Supports plant growth and warms troposphere
CYCLING of nutrients (matter) through parts of the biosphere
GRAVITY holds the earth’s atmosphere and enables movement and cycling of chemicals (compounds and elements) through air, water, soil, and organisms .
Producers (autotrophs)
Autotrophs
Make needed nutrients from their environment
During photosynthesis, plants generate energy and emit oxygen . know the photosynthesis equation!!
The first trophic level
Consumers (heterotrophs)
Cannot produce the nutrients they need
Primary consumers (herbivores) eat plants
Secondary and tertiary (or higher) consumers:
Carnivores feed on the flesh of other animals
Omnivores eat both plants and animals
Primary Consumers
herbivores
Secondary and tertiary (or higher) consumers
carnivores feed on the flesh of other animals , omnivores eat both
Decomposers / Detritivores
Consumers that release nutrients from wastes or remains of plants or animals
Nutrients return to soil, water, and air for reuse
Bacteria, fungi
Detritivores and decomposers
Detritivores - Feed on the carasses of dead animals
Photosynthesis Equation
glucose + oxygen → CO2 + H2O + energy
Food chain
Movement of energy and nutrients from one trophic level to the next
heat is lost along the way
Food web
Network interconnected food chains
Pyramid of energy flow
90% of usable energy is lost with each transfer
Less chemical energy for higher trophic levels
Biomass
total mass of organisms in a given trophic level
Gross primary productivity (GPP)
Rate at which an ecosystem’s producers convert solar energy to stored chemical energy
Measured in units such as kcal/m^2/year
Net primary productivity (NPP)
Rate at which an ecosystems’s producers convert solar energy to chemical energy, minus the rate at which they use the stored energy for aerobic respiration
Terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic life zones differ in their NPP
The planet’s NPP ultimately limits the number of consumers (including humans) that can survive on earth
Ecological Efficiency
is the percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next in an ecosystem.
10% rule
Most lost as waste heat
Some energy contained in detritus and metabolic waste provides energy for decomposers and detritivores
Water / Hydrologic Cycle
The major 4 steps are evaporation of water, then condensation, precipitation and collection. The sun evaporates water sources and contributes to the formation of water vapor. These water vapour accumulate in the atmosphere as clouds.
Percolation and Infiltration (water cycle)
Infiltration is defined as the downward entry of water into the soil or rock surface
percolation is the flow of water through soil and porous or fractured rock.
similar
Runoff (water cycle)
water that hits the surface and travels in to surface water
Transpiration (water cycle)
when water evaporates from plants
How do we affect the hydrologic cycle?
We pollute it
We hinder it w/ highways / parking lots/ constructed buildings
Withdrawing large amounts of freshwater at rates faster than nature can replace it
Clearing vegetation (increases runoff0
Draining and filling wetlands for farming and urban development
Wetlands provide flood control
Carbon Cycle
Photosynthesis from producers removes CO2 from the atmosphere
Aerobic respiration by producers, consumers, and decomposers adds CO2
Some CO2 dissolves in the ocean
Stored in marine sediments
OR
Carbon enters the atmosphere as CO2.
CO2 is absorbed by autotrophs such as green plants.
Animals consume plants, thereby, incorporating carbon into their system.
Animals and plants die, their bodies decompose and carbon is reabsorbed back into the atmosphere.
