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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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what is a biosphere
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the life support system of the planet and consists of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere
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what is a ecosystem
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a collection of communities that exist together with their abiotic environment and possess primary producers, consumers, and decomposers
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what are primary producers
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(autotrophs) harness energy(light or chemical) and carbon from CO2
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what is net primary production
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the amount of energy invested into new plant material
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what is a consumer
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convert complex organic material into simpler organic material (herbivors, carnivors)
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what is a primary consumer
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a herbivore- an organism that eats plants or algae or other photosynthetic cells
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what is a secondary consumer
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consumers that eat herbivores (primary consumers)
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what is a decomposer
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(detritivors)- convert simple organic material back to CO2
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what are primary decomposers
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bacteria, archaea, fungi, roundworms, earthworms and millipedes
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what are trophic levels
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organisms that gain their energy from the same food source
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what is a food chain
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connects trophic levels (PP->PC->PD)
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what is a food web
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more complex interactions/players
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describe the grazing food web
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primary consumer - eats primary producers
secondary consumer - eats primary consumers teritary consumer - eats secondary consumers |
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what is a decomposer food web
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composed of species that eat the dead remains of organisms
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what is the energy pyramid
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the energy lost from trophic level to trophic level
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what is gross photosynthetic efficiency
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the efficiency with which plants use the total amount of energy available to them
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what are biogeochemical cycles
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the path that an element takes as it moves from abiotic systems through organisms and back again
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what is a reservoir
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a pool of an element or compound
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what is residence time
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the average duration an element remains in a pool
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what is flux
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the movement of an element from one pool to another (kg/yr)
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describe the global water cycle
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clouds precipitate over land > runoff and ground water dump into ocean > ocean water evaporates to form clouds
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describe nitrogen fixation
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the incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into forms such as ammonia or nitrate which can be used to make many organic compounds. occurs in only a few lineages of bacteria and archaea
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