Ecology Final

Front 1

pool/reservoir

Back 1

amount of an element in a component of the biosphere

Front 2

flux

Back 2

rate of movement of an element between pools

Front 3

weather

Back 3

current state of the atmosphere at any given time

Front 4

climate

Back 4

long-term description of weather, includes average conditions and the full range of variation

Front 5

climate change

Back 5

directional change in climate over a period of at least three decades

Front 6

extinction vortex

Back 6

a small population declines even further and becomes ever more vulnerable to processes that lead to extinction

Front 7

habitat loss

Back 7

conversion of an ecosystem into another use

Front 8

habitat degradation

Back 8

changes that reduce quality of the habitat for many, but not all, species

Front 9

habitat fragmentation

Back 9

breaking up continuous habitat into patches amid a human-dominated landscape

Front 10

bycatch

Back 10

unintended catch within a fishery

Front 11

habitat loss, invasive species, over exploitation, pollution , disease, and climate change

Back 11

primary threats to biodiversity

Front 12

population viability analyses (PVA)

Back 12

allows ecologists to access extinction risks and evaluate management options

Front 13

endangered

Back 13

if a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of it's range

Front 14

threatened

Back 14

if a species is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future

Front 15

surrogate species

Back 15

protecting habitat for one species can result in protection of other species as well

Front 16

flagship species

Back 16

charismatic species people will want to give protection to (example: pandas)

Front 17

umbrella species

Back 17

protection of the habitat of this species will serve as an "umbrella" to protect many other species with similar habitat requirements

Front 18

endangered species act

Back 18

provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend

Front 19

fixation (examples: nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, which is carbon fixation)

Back 19

refers to the transformation of abiotic nutrients into forms that can be assimilated and used by organisms

Front 20

mineralization (examples: dentrification and decomposition)

Back 20

process where nutrients are released from their complex, organic form into simpler, inorganic forms

Front 21

element

Back 21

pure chemical substances consisting of a single kind of atoms released from minerals via weathering

Front 22

minerals

Back 22

compounds composed of one or more elements with characteristic chemical properties

Front 23

rocks

Back 23

composed of different minerals

Front 24

mechanical weathering; examples; contraction and expansion from freeze, thaw and drying,

Back 24

physical breakdown of rocks

Front 25

chemical weathering

Back 25

chemical reactions that release soluble forms of mineral elements

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soil

Back 26

mix of mineral/rock particles, organic matter, water and organisms

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parent material

Back 27

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

Front 28

accumulation

Back 28

____________ of organic matter, chemical alteration, and leaching result in formation of soil layers known as horizons

Front 29

slash and burn agriculture

Back 29

when tropical forests are cleared and burned, nutrients are released from the biomass, but are also lost in smoke and ash and and soil erosion

Front 30

Haber-Bosch process

Back 30

main industrial procedure used to create ammonia; implements the reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen gas

Front 31

lignin

Back 31

compound that strengthens plant cell walls, and is difficult for soil microorganisms to degrade. The amount in each plant varies

Front 32

nitrification

Back 32

—NH3 and NH4+ are converted to NO3– by chemoautotrophic bacteria, in aerobic conditions

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denitrification

Back 33

some bacteria use NO3–as an electron acceptor, converting it into N2 and N2O, in anoxic conditions

Front 34

nutrient cycling

Back 34

movement of nutrients in ecosystems, as they undergo biological, chemical, and physical transformations

Front 35

nutrient spiraling

Back 35

the repeated uptake and release of nutrients as the water flows downstream

Front 36

biological activity, water velocity, and nutrient type

Back 36

full turn of the spiral in nutrient spiraling depends on

Front 37

oligotrophic

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type of lake that is nutrient-poor, low primary productivity, and clear

Front 38

mesotrophic

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type of lake that has intermediate nutrient levels, not so pretty water

Front 39

eutrophic

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type of lake that is high nutrient, high primary productivity, turbid water

Front 40

Secchi disk

Back 40

Water clarity is dependent on phytoplankton density, and is measured using a

Front 41

depth of clarity

Back 41

The maximum depth at which the disk can be seen is the

Front 42

burning of fossil fuels, agricultural development, burning of forests and crops, livestock production

Back 42

anthropogenic sources of methane

Front 43

deforestation

Back 43

anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide

Front 44

atmospheric N2

Back 44

largest pool of nitrogen

Front 45

a soluble form of sulfur

Back 45

weathering of sulfur containing materials releases

Front 46

UVB (ultra-violet B radiation)

- as ozone concentration decreases, amount of UVB radiation at the surface of the Earth increases

Back 46

stratospheric ozone protects the Earth's surface from what?

Front 47

treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.

-ozone layer recovery will take decades due to the long life of CFCs and mixing of troposphere and stratosphere

Back 47

purpose of the Montreal Protocol

Front 48

tropic interactions (what they eat and what eats them)

Back 48

The ecological roles of organisms are determined in part by their

Front 49

detritovores, herbivores that consume autotrophs, and primary consumers

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second trophic level includes

Front 50

secondary and tertiary consumers

Back 50

third trophic level or higher includes

Front 51

enter the pool of dead organic matter (detritus)

Back 51

All organisms are either consumed by other organisms or

Front 52

detritovores

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Dead organisms and waste are consumed by organisms called

Front 53

allochthonous input

- can be very important in stream ecosystems

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external energy input of dead organic matter

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autochthonous energy

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Internal energy inputs from autotrophs within the system

Front 55

-food quality

- consumer abundance

- consumer physiology

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The amount of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next depends on

Front 56

decreases

Back 56

Energy availability __________ with each increasing trophic level

Front 57

trophic/Eltonian pyramid

Back 57

portrays the relative amounts of energy or biomass of each trophic level

Front 58

inverted/narrower at the bottom. The primary producers are phytoplankton with short life spans and high turnover

Back 58

In aquatic ecosystems, the biomass pyramid may be

Front 59

trophic efficiency

(incorporates three forms of efficiency; consumption, assimilation, and production)

Back 59

Amount of energy at one trophic level divided by the amount of energy at the trophic level immediately below it

Front 60

aquatic ecosystems

Back 60

consumption efficiency is highest where?

Front 61

- food quality

- physiology of the consumer

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Assimilation efficiency is determined by

Front 62

thermal physiology and size of the consumer

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Production efficiency is related strongly to

Front 63

top down view

Back 63

Energy flow is governed by predator consumption rates at the highest trophic level, which influences multiple trophic levels below them

Front 64

trophic cascade

Back 64

A series of trophic interactions that result in changes in biomass and species composition

Front 65

- studied a tropical forest cascade

- They found that the trophic cascade was the only significant influence on leaf production by Piper trees

Back 65

Dyer and Letourneau

Front 66

The number of trophic levels may change due to addition or loss of a top predator, or a predator in the middle of the food chain. Or, an omnivore may change food preference

Back 66

what determines the number of trophic levels in a food chain?

Front 67

1. amount of energy entering via primary production

2. instability of longer food chains and the frequency of disturbances

3. ecosystem size

-A study of 36 islands in the Bahamas found that island size was correlated with number of trophic levels

Back 67

factors that control the number of trophic levels

Front 68

stability of food webs

Back 68

How an ecosystem responds to species loss or gain is strongly related to

Front 69

Robert MAy

Back 69

mathematical analysis by this guy using randomly assembled model food webs demonstrated that these webs with higher diversity are less stable

Front 70

i(sc)^1/2 < 1

Back 70

For May’s model webs to be stable

Front 71

tested the diversity/stability question using microcosms with protozoan food webs of varying complexity

Back 71

Sharon Lawler

Front 72

food webs

Back 72

conceptual models of the trophic interactions of organisms in an ecosystem; also defined as static descriptions of energy flow and trophic interactions

Front 73

I=(Dp-D0)/(Dp)P

DP= PREY DENSITY WITH PREDATOR

DO= PREY DENSITY WITHOUT A PREDATOR

Back 73

Paine's measure

Front 74

demonstrated the indirect effects predators can have on prey

-The potential for indirect effects to offset or reinforce the direct effect of a predator should be greatest when the direct effect is weak (idea was tested by Berlow using predatory whelks, mussels, and acorn barnacles)

Back 74

Keystone predation by Pisaster example

Front 75

Whelks have a direct negative effect on mussels by eating them

Back 75

whelk-mussle relationship

Front 76

bioaccumulation

Back 76

occurs when some chemicals are not metabolized or excreted, and become progressively more concentrated in tissues over an organism’s lifetime

Front 77

biomagnification

Back 77

the incremental increase in a contaminant's concentration at each level of the food chain

Front 78

ecosystem

Back 78

refers to all the components of an ecological system, biotic and abiotic, that influence the flow of energy and elements

Front 79

primary production

Back 79

the fixation of inorganic carbon into organic matter by autotrophs during photosynthesis and chemosynthesis

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secondary production

Back 80

growth of organisms that consume other organisms

Front 81

Raymond Lindeman

Back 81

this individual grouped organisms into functionalcategories, based on how they obtained their energy

Front 82

gpp-respiration (plants, animals, ecosystems, everything)

NEE(net ecosystem exchange) is also equal to this

Back 82

net primary production (npp) equals

Front 83

NPP

Back 83

ultimate source of energy for all organisms in an ecosystem

- indication of health of an ecosystem

- associated with the global carbon cycle

Front 84

-harvesting biomass

-remote sensing

- ecosystem gas exchange

Back 84

npp IS estimated by techniques such as

Front 85

NIR-red/ (NIR+red)

Back 85

NDVI

normalized difference vegetation index

Front 86

high; low

Back 86

vegetation has a ____ NDVI value; water and soil have _____ NDVI values

Front 87

1. regional species pools

2. abiotic conditions

3. species interactions

Back 87

species diversity differs among communities due to variation in

Front 88

resource partitioning

Back 88

Competing species are more likely to coexist if they use resources in different ways

Front 89

Resource ratio hypothesis

Back 89

species coexist by using resources in different proportions