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26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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AET actual evapotranspiration |
total amount of water that evaporates and transpires off a landscape during the course of a year |
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bottom-up control |
influences of physical and chemical factors on ecosystems such as temperature and nutrients |
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ecological efficiency |
the percentage of energy in the biomass at a lower trophic level that is transferred to the biomass at the higher trophic level |
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gpp gross primary production |
the total amount of biomass produced by all the autotrophs in the ecosystem |
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npp net primary production |
amount of biomass left over after autotrophs have met their own energetic needs |
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primary production |
the production of new organic matter, or biomass, by autotrophs in an ecosystem |
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rate of primary production |
the amount of biomass produced over some time interval |
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top-down control |
influences of consumers on ecosystems |
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trophic cascade |
effects of predators on prey that alter abundance , biomass, or productivity of a population, community, or trophic level across more than one link in the food web |
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trophic dynamics |
the transfer of energy from one part of an ecosystem to another |
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trophic level |
trophic position in an ecosystem, for instance, primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, and so forth |
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t-test |
a statistical test used to compare pairs of samples of measurements with approximately normal distributions and equal variances |
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decomposition |
the breakdown of organic matter accompanied by the release of CO2 |
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dry deposition |
fallout of particulate material from the air by means other than with precipitation in rain or snow |
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eutrophication |
nutrient enrichment of an ecosystem; generally resulting in increased primary production and reduced biodiversity. |
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mineralization |
conversion from organic to inorganic form through decomposition |
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normal distribution |
a bell shaped distribution, proportioned so that predictable proportions of observations or measurements fall within one, two, or three standard deviations of the mean |
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nutrient cycling |
the use, transformation, movement, and reuse of nutrients in an ecosystem |
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nutrient flux |
the movement of nutrients between nutrient pools in an ecosystem |
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nutrient pool |
the amount of a particular nutrient stored in a portion or compartment of an ecosystem |
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nutrient retentiveness |
the tendency of an ecosystem to retain nutrients |
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nutrient sink |
a part of the biosphere where a particular nutrient is absorbed faster than it is released |
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nutrient source |
a portion of the biosphere where a particular nutrient is released faster than it is absorbed |
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nutrient spiraling |
a representation of nutrient dynamics in streams, which, because of downstream displacement of organisms and materials, are better represented by a spiral than a cycle |
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spiraling length |
the length of stream required for an atom of a nutrient to complete a cycle from release into the water column to reentry in to the benthic ecosystem |
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wet deposition |
washing of materials from the atmosphere onto the earth surface with rain or snow |
