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Ecology After Midterm > Week 4 Part 1 > Flashcards

Week 4 Part 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Do all species require the same amount of nutrients

A

No depending on the species they have different nutrient requirments

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2
Q

What is carbon and nitrogen used for

A

Carbon is the main component of structural compounds in plants; nitrogen is largely tied up in enzymes

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3
Q

What are the difference between C:N and C:N ratios and why

A

The C:N ratios in animals are lower than in plants because animals need to code for a lot more proteins and carbon is needed for structural tissues

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4
Q

What do herbivores have to do because of this ratio

A

Consume more food than carnivores to get enough nutrients like Nitrogen

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5
Q

What are all nutrients ultimately derived from

A

Abotic sources like rocks and gases in the atmosphere

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6
Q

What are the different types of weathering

A

Physical - wind, rain, thermal expansion and contraction, water freezing
Chemical weathering - water gases
Biological weathering - tree roots and lichnes usually works along with physical weathering

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7
Q

What is the order of size of soil compositon from smallest to largest and what does it determine

A

Clay, Silt and then Sand it determines the soils porosity the larger the particle the larger the porosity

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8
Q

What does clay have

A

Humus (organic material) have many negatively charged ions

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9
Q

What is the good about clay being negatively charged

A

Cations can bind to this site and many plants have positive charges so negative charges in soil increase its fertility

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10
Q

What is cation exchange capacity

A

The ability of a soil to hold and exchange cations related to the amount of types of clay particles present if there is more clay then there is more binding sites

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11
Q

What soil is better for holding onto water

A

Clay prevents water from getting lost where sandy soils have more drought taken up for more space for oxygen

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12
Q

What is Parent material

A

The rock or mineral material that was broken down by weathering to form a soil

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13
Q

What is parent material may that is deposited by glaicers

A

TIll

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14
Q

What is parent material deposited by wind

A

Loess

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15
Q

Where is soil development fastest

A

Warm wet conditions

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16
Q

Where is nutrients in soil highest

A

Terrestrial ecosystem than tropical forest soils because have experienced high rates of weathering and leaching for a long time are nutrient poor there is so much competition

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17
Q

What does decomposition do

A

Makes nutrients available to organisms in the ecosystem breaking them into small, soluble compounds

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18
Q

What is the pathway of decomposition

A

Starts with litter which is made up of fresh undecomposed organic matter on the soil surface
Then animals such as earthworms termites and nematodes consume the litter breaking it up into progressively finer particle in fragmentation
The fragmentation increases surface area, which facilitates chemical breakdown
Minerizaltion which chemical conversion of organic matter into inorganic nutrients
Heterotrophic organisms release enzymes into the soil that break down organic macromolecules

19
Q

Where is decompostion and minerizaltion rates at the highest

A

Faster in warm and moist conditions

20
Q

What does the graph show in refrence to ligin and decomposition

A

Higher values of ligin see slower decompostion rates and higher biomass remains the difference between New Hampshire and North Carolina is colder

20
Q

What is denitrificaiton

A

Some bacteria use NO3 as an electron acceptor converting it into N2 and N20 in anoxic conditions

20
Q

What is soil fertility is estimated from

A

Concentration of inorganic forms of nitrogen NO3 and NH4

20
Q

What is Nitrification

A

NH3 and NH4 are converted to NO3 by chemoautotrophic bacteria in aerobic conditions so they are less ailvaliable for plants that need it in that form

20
Q

What do the falling of leafs represent

A

Recycle some nutrients internally before the leafs fall nutrients are broken down and moved to other parts of plants because the leaves are metabolically expensive so chlorphyll is broken down to recover nutrients while other pigments remain to produce colors

20
Q

What is nutrient cycling

A

Movment of nutrients in ecosystems as they under biological chemical and physical transformations

20
Q

What is mean residence time (turnover rate) and what is the equation

A

Amount of time on average that a molecule spends in the pool; Mean residence time = total pool of element / rate of input

20
Q

What are pools

A

Total amount of nutrient in a component of the ecosystem

20
Q

What accounts for nutrient losses

A

Catchment are mostly in stream water, quantified by measuring dissolved and particulate matter in stream water also lost to the atmosphere or as organisms move out of the ecosystem

20
Q

What did the study on Hawaii islands show

A

Nand P were added to plots in three ecosystems of different ages and growth of the dominant tree were measured in the Young N was limiting in the middle a combination was important and P was important in older communities

20
Q

How can nutrients be lost

A

When they leach out of the root zone and into groundwater and streams or gases coverted into chemical forms that can not be used by organisms

20
Q

Are nutrient inputs transferred between ecosystem components

A

Herbivory and predation decomposition and weathering processes

20
Q

How can you measure losses

By the stream

A

Nutrient losses in stream flow are measured by analyzing the chemical composition of the water esitatmed by placing a V-shaped weir across the stream to gauge flow

20
Q

What is the equation for measuring input

A

concentration element x volume of percipation = amount of element entering the catchment

20
Q

What is atmospheric deposition

A

Includes elements in precipitation wet deposition or aresols and fine dust which is dry deposition

20
Q

How do you measure nutrient losses from the air

A

Usually have a single drainage basin called a catchment or watershed the land area that is drained by a single is often used to define boundaries

20
Q

What material was important in primary succession

A

There is little organic matter in the soil and little nitrogen from decomposition so nitrogen availbility should limit primary production and community composition in early stages but onece the pool of nitrogen increases limits primary production decrease

20
Q

Where are nutrient pools larger

A

in tropical forest soils are much smaller than those in boreal forest because there is less competion in boreal forest
The turnover tare is is so much faster in tropical forest soils than in boreal forest soils

20
Q

When is N and P the limiting agent

A

N is limiting in early succession N and P both at intermediate stages of succession and P limiting late in succession

20
Q

What are nutrient inputs to a catchment

A

Atmospheric deposition and nitrogen fixation which are either stored in the soil in the soil or taken up by organisms

20
Q

How do you measure wet deposition

A

Collectors open during percipitation events then close to prevent evaporation the collected the collected percipation is the analyzed for elements of intrest

20
Q

How do you measure dry deposition

A

More diffcult to measure and is done less often usually analyzed and combined with wind speed and direction to estimate deposition on surfaces

20
Q

Where can dry deposition make up the bulk of total deposition

A

Dry areas

20
Q

What is occlusion

A

Solule P may combine with iron, calcium or aluminum to form insoluble compounds that are unavailable as nutrients

20
Q

Where does P orginate from

A

Weathering of the mineral aptite

Ecology After Midterm (9 decks)

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