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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is an Ecosystem?
What can an Ecosystem be regarded as? |
Ecosystem is the ecological unit that considers both the abiotic factors (physical) : weather, pH, soil chemistry, temperature, and biotic factors :who lives there
-An ecosystem is an energy converter, as energy is passed from a species to the next -Molecules necessary for life are being passed through as well, called nutrients |
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The Cycling of Ecosystem Nutrients
How many nutrients are essential to life? Is water essential to life as a nutrient? What are nutrients, along with water cycled through, what is this process called? At any one time where may a nutrient be? |
-There are 30 nutrients essential for life
-Water, essential for life is not a nutrient -Water, alongs with nutrients are cycled back and forth between (abiotic)physical and (biotic)living domains on earth in a process called biogeochemical cycling -The nutrient may be in a chemical environment (water, air soil) -The nutrient may be in living thing(bio) -Or the nutrient may trapped in rock(geo) |
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Key points of Nutrient Cycles
What are all nutrient cycles powered by? What acts as a reservior of nutrients? Why are they cycles? Nutrient cycles rely on what?, who disrupts this? |
All nutrient cycles are powered by the sun.
-All rely on the oceans as a great reservoir of nutrients. -These are cycles, as molecules are recycled countless times over the eons. -Nutrient cycles rely on a state of equilibrium, or balance. Humans tend to throw these cycles into instability. |
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Carbon Cycle
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-Carbon comes into the world through photosynthesizers
-Animals get their carbon from these photosynthesizing animals -The cycle is completed when carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere which is produced naturally through two process :respiration of living things :decomposition of living things following death -Some carbon is left in the rocks, -The burning of these fossil fuels releases the rest into the atmosphere. |
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Climate Change (Carbon Cycle)
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-Carbon dioxide is a small but critical portion of the atmosphere
-Vital to life and greatly affects temperature -Human activities (internal combustion, burning of forests) expels more carbon into the atmosphere, causing heat retention -An estimate is that global warming will increase global climate by 6celcius in 100 years |
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Nitrogen Cycle
-What percent of our atmosphere is nitrogen What is nitrogen used to make? -How does it enter the atmosphere -Prior to to the 20th century, how did nitrogen enter the biotic domain since no plant or animal could utilize it directly What did they convert and what was the result? |
-Crucial to the production of nucleic acids, and proteins.
-Makes up 78% of atmosphere -Nitrogen entered the biotic domain through certain nitrogen-fixing bacteria and they convert it to a form that living things could utilize (nitrogen was fixed into ammonia, ammonia mixes with water to create ammonium ion which can assimilate into living tissues) -Denitrifying bacteria return nitrogen back to the atmosphere (n2) to maintain equilibrium |
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Nitrogen as Fertilzer
When did this arise? As a result what nutrient cycle did humans place themselves into, |
-In the early 20th century (1900's), a useful application of nitrogen as fertilizer
-We are thrown in the nitrogen nutrient cycle because of this -Nitrogen runoff from agriculture is a form of nutrient pollution that can harm large and small aquatic ecosystem |
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The Dead Zone, what is this a result of?
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-Runoff from the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers goes into the gulf of mexico and destroys aquatic life
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Water Cycle
What percent is fresh liquid water? What percent of fresh liquid water is ground water? Where is it stored? How much water does civilization utilize? Why is water so scarce? What is the impact of human diversion of water? |
-As with other nutrient cycles, water is also cycled,or stored as in glaciers or polar ice but is not considered a nutrient
-0.5 earth's water is considered fresh liquid water -25% of this considered groundwater stored in geological formations, aquifiers. -Civilization uses more than half of the worlds accessible water -Water shortage is linked to the ineffeciant way humans use it -Human diversion of water is having harmful impacts on species such as fish |
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Water Cycle
What percent of perciptation is over the ocean? What percent is over land? |
90% of percipitation is over the ocean
10% is over land |
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Energy Cycle
Energy unlike nutrients is not ______? Where does initially come from and where does it go? What law must ecosystems follow? Energy is measured in what? |
-Energy, unlike nutrients is not recyclable
-Initially comes from sun -Moves from place to plac -Moves from species to species -Then escapes to space as heat -Ecosystems follow the law of thermodynamics which states when energy is used to preform work, it is no longer available in the future and is converted to heat -Energy is measured as calories |
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Trophic Levels
Who are producers and who are consumers? Every ecosystem has trophic levels otherwise known as ______ Who forms the first layer and who forms the next additional layers? |
Photosynthesizers are producers
Animals that eat plants are consumers Trophic levels, otherwise known as feeding levels Producers form the first trophic layers and consumers form the additional layers |
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Trophic Levels
(Layers) What is the first layer, what it named and what does it eat What is the third layer, what is it named and what does it eat What is the fourth layer, what is it named and what does it eat? |
1st Layer : Producer (Photosynthesizers)
2nd Layer : Primary Consumers (Plant Eater) 3rd Layer : Secondary Consumer (Herbivore eater) 4th Layer : Tertiary Consumer (Carnivore Predator) |
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Decomposers
What are their roles? |
-Eat decaying animal and plant matter help to recycle molecules (nutrients)
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Energy Flow Model
What is the significance of an Energy Flow Model? |
-it measures energy as it is used by and transferred among different members of an ecosystem.
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Global Warming
What is the significance of deforestation |
-Burning of forests creates additional CO2
-Since these photosynthesizers are rid of, less co2 is being fixated |
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Energy loss
(Energy Flow Model) What is the 10% rule What law can we contribute it to? What is ecological effeciency? What does this explain about top predators? |
-Due to the 2nd law of thermodynamics 90% of energy is lost with each step in trophic level, only 10% makes it.
-This is known as the 10% rule and it is a measure of ecological efficiency -This explains why large predatory animals are rare(top predators) |
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Energy loss in plants
(Energy Flow Model) |
1-2% of solar energy is assimilated from sunlight in plants
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Global Warming
-Atmospheric temperature is increasing due to _____ and ____ -Since what year have humans contributed to global warming, what percent of it as well -How much has temperature gone up since 1905? |
-Atmospheric temperature is increasing due to greenhouse gasses and deforastation
-Humans, since 1950 have caused 90% of global warming -.7celcius increase since 1905 |
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Global Warming
(Green House Gasses) --Due to _______ global temperature will increase by ___% in 100 years -What gasses are regarded as greenhouse, and why? |
-Due to greenhouse gasses global temperature will increase by 6 Celsius in 100 years
From 1905-2005, atmospheric temperature has gone up only .7 Celsius -Methane and Carbon are regarded to as greenhouse gasses due to their ability to trap heat that the sun emits |
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Consequences of Global Warming
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-Rise of sea levels
-More intense tropical storms -Less snow globally -Permafrost that thaws to increasing depths -Cannot be stopped, but lessened with human activities. |
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Biomes
They have similar _____ and as a result similar _______ What are they named after? What two factors drive distribution and nature of biomes? |
Biomes are terresterial formations that have similar climate and as a result similar vegatative formations
Named after dominant plant species Percipitation and Temperature |
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What six types of biomes are there?
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tundra
taiga temperate deciduous forest temperate grassland desert tropical rain forest |
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Predator Prey Cycles
-Predator/Prey numbers tend do what? What is the first step What is the second step, what is this due to? What is the third step, what is this due to? What is the fourth step, what is this due to? What is the fifth step |
Predator and prey numbers in a community tend to cycle (go up and down).
1st The prey increase in number due to locally abundant resources 2nd The predator numbers increase (due to increased reproduction or arrival of predators on the scene from outlying areas) in response to the abundance of prey. 3rd The prey numbers now start to decline due to the many predators. Predators are taking prey faster than they can reproduce. This is called overharvesting 4th Next, the predator species crashes (due to starvation or moving to new areas) due to a lack of prey species. 5th The prey recovers and the cycle continues. |
