Biology 8Th Ed. Raven Ch 57

Front 1

define ecosystem

Back 1

includes all the organisms that live in a particular place including the abiotic environment

Front 2

define biogeochemical cycles

Back 2

chemical moving through ecosystems, biotic and abiotic

Front 3

briefly describe the inputs and outputs of the carbon cycle

Back 3

CO2 in atmosphere is exchanged between H2O and atmosphere through oxidation of methane, animals, plants and algae expiration, combustion of fuels, and production by organic matter

Front 4

what is carbon fixation? what does it produce? what organisms do it?

Back 4

metabolic reactions that make usable, nongaseous compounds from unusable, gaseous compounds

Front 5

What kind of reaction does methane produce?

Back 5

CO2

Front 6

What organisms produce methane?

Back 6

Methanogens (archaea)

Front 7

Briefly describe the input/outputs of the H2O cycle.

Back 7

The cycle of water movement from the atmosphere to the earth and back to the atmosphere through condensation, precipitation, evaporation, and transpiration

Front 8

Define transpiration.

Back 8

the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants

Front 9

Define evaporation.

Back 9

changing from a solid to a vapor

Front 10

Define condensation.

Back 10

the process of changing from a gaseous to a liquid or solid state

Front 11

Define precipitation.

Back 11

the falling to earth of any form of water

Front 12

Define percolation.

Back 12

The downward movement of water through the soil.

Front 13

Define groundwater.

Back 13

The water found under ground.

Front 14

Define aquifer.

Back 14

an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay)

Front 15

briefly describe the inputs/outputs of the Nitrogen cycle

Back 15

The transformation of nitrogen from an atmospheric gas to organic compounds in the soil, then to compounds in plants and eventually the release of nitrogen gas back into the atmosphere.

Front 16

Define nitrogen fixation.

Back 16

Synthesis of N from compounds containing N2.

Front 17

What does nitrogen fixation produce?

Back 17

Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen is taken from its natural, relatively inert molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds (such as ammonia, nitrate and nitrogen dioxide).

Front 18

What organisms produce N?

Back 18

microbes living on plants or in plant roots.

Front 19

What is a limiting nutrient?

Back 19

The nutrient in shortest supply in a particular ecosystem.

Front 20

What are the limiting nutrients for plants?

Back 20

iron, N, P

Front 21

Briefly define the Phosphorus cycle.

Back 21

Comes from decomposition of animals and plants and waste products. Does not exist in gas form; does not exist in atmosphere.

Front 22

Define energy. List 4 or more forms of energy.

Back 22

Energy: the ability to do work.
Solar, geothermal, nuclear, potential, kinetic.

Front 23

List the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Back 23

Energy does not increase or decrease as it changes.

Front 24

List the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Back 24

When energy is more ordered and less stable, it is converted to less ordered and more stable energy.

Front 25

State the differences between photoautotrophs, chemoautotrophs, and heteroautotrophs.

Back 25

Photo: derived energy from light.
Chemo: derive energy from chemicals.
Hetero: derive energy from organic food sources.

Front 26

Define trophic level.

Back 26

the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it.

Front 27

State from lowest to highest the trophic levels of: detrivores, primary carnivores, primary producers, herbivores, secondary carnivores.

Back 27

1. Primary producers.
2. Herbivores.
3. Primary carnivores.
4. Secondary carnivores.
5. Detrivores.

Front 28

Define productivity, primary productivity, secondary productivity and respiration.

Back 28

Productivity: rate of trophic level.
Primary productivity:the production of new plant material.
Secondary productivity:The rate of biomass accumulation by heterotrophs.
Respiration: rate at which primary producers break down organic compounds.

Front 29

What is the diff. between gross primary productivity and net primary productivity?

Back 29

Gross: Raw rate at which primary producers synthesize new organic matter.
Net: Gross PP less respiration

Front 30

Define standing crop biomass.

Back 30

the amount of organic matter present at a given time.

Front 31

Define trophic cascade.

Back 31

top of food chain to bottom of food chain

Front 32

List 3 ecosystem characteristics which influence species richness.

Back 32

1. Primary productivity
2. Habitat heterogeneity
3. Climatic factors

Front 33

Why do tropical ecosystems have the highest diversity of ecosystems?

Back 33

Increased prodictivity, higher ecological age, predation, stability of conditions

Front 34

Define species-area relationship

Back 34

a result of the geographic area and isolation

Front 35

What is the MacArthur and Wilson equilibrium model?

Back 35

island species richness is a dynamic equilibrium between colonization and extinction