Envi Sci Test 5

Front 1

Ecology

Back 1

study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their abiotic environment - involves abiotic and biotic factors

Front 2

Population

Back 2

Several organisms of the same kind in a particular area; population dynamics-the unit of evolution

Front 3

Community

Back 3

interacting populations in a particular area; interactions among species

Front 4

Ecosystem

Back 4

a community plus the environment; flow of energy and matter

Front 5

Landscape

Back 5

a region that includes several interacting ecosystems

Front 6

Landscape Ecology

Back 6

study of connections among ecosystems in a given region

Front 7

Biosphere

Back 7

Regions of the Earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere inhabited by living things; global processes

Front 8

Energy

Back 8

the ability to do work

Front 9

Potential Energy

Back 9

stored energy

Front 10

Kinetic Energy

Back 10

energy possessed due to movement

Front 11

Thermodynamics

Back 11

study of energy and its transformations

Front 12

First law of thermodynamics

Back 12

Energy cannot be created or destroyed - total energy content always the same, energy can change from one form to another

Front 13

Photosynthesis

Back 13

solar energy converted to chemical

Front 14

Cellular Respiration

Back 14

process by which other organisms gain energy from eating the tissues of producers

Front 15

Second law of thermodynamics

Back 15

amount of usable energy in the universe decreases over time as some is lost as heat

Front 16

producer

Back 16

manufacture large organic molecules from simple inorganic molecules

Front 17

consumer

Back 17

animals that consume other organisms

Front 18

detritus

Back 18

waste/debris, organic material from decomposed things

Front 19

decomposer

Back 19

bacteria and fungi that break down dead and decaying organisms

Front 20

energy flow

Back 20

the passage of energy in a one-way direction through an ecosystem, occurs in food chains

Front 21

food chain

Back 21

the sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers

Front 22

trophic level

Back 22

levels in the food chain, due to energy lost as heat along the way less energy is available for organisms at higher trophic levels.

Front 23

food web

Back 23

a complex of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem

Front 24

ecological pyramid

Back 24

graphically represents the relative energy values of each trophic level

Front 25

Gross primary productivity

Back 25

the rate at which energy is captured during photosynthesis

Front 26

Net primary productivity

Back 26

the amount of biomass found in excess of that broken down by a plant during cellular respiration

Front 27

ecological niche

Back 27

the totality of an organism's adaptations, its use of resources, and the lifestyle to which it is fitted

Front 28

habitat

Back 28

part of an organism's niche, the place where the organism lives

Front 29

fundamental niche

Back 29

the potential, idealized niche

Front 30

realized niche

Back 30

the actual niche an organism occupies

Front 31

resource partitioning

Back 31

one way species avoid or reduce niche overlap, serves to reduce competition for resources

Front 32

symbiosis

Back 32

two species living in close association

Front 33

coevolution

Back 33

two organisms influence each other in their evolution

Front 34

mutualism

Back 34

both organisms benefit

Front 35

commensalism

Back 35

one benefits the other is unaffected

Front 36

parasitism

Back 36

one benefits, one is harmed

Front 37

predation

Back 37

consumption of one species by another

Front 38

competition

Back 38

interaction among organisms that vie for the same resources in an ecosystem, such as food or living space

Front 39

keystone species

Back 39

a species crucial to the maintenance of the ecosystem

Front 40

List flow of energy

Back 40

(First trophic level) producers-primary consumers-secondary consumers(fourth trophic level) tertiary consumers-decomposers

Front 41

Three rules of energy pyramids

Back 41

1. Not every organism gets eaten

2. Not everything that is eaten is digested

3. Energy is always being lost as heat (2nd thermodynamic law)

Front 42

where does most of solar energy go?

Back 42

reflected or passes through producers without being absorbed

Front 43

Matter

Back 43

the material that composes organisms

Front 44

Biogeochemical involves...

Back 44

biological, geological, chemical processes

Front 45

Cycling vs. flow - energy and matter

Back 45

Energy flows through ecosystem and matter cycles through ecosystem

Front 46

Carbon cycle

Back 46

global movement of carbon between abiotic environment and organisms

Front 47

Hydrolic cycle

Back 47

water circulates among the ocean, land, and atmosphere

Front 48

runoff

Back 48

water that flows from land to rivers and lakes

Front 49

watersheds

Back 49

land where runoff drains

Front 50

Nitrogen cycle

Back 50

five steps: Nitrogen fixation, nitrification, assimilation, ammonification, denitrification

Front 51

Nitrogen fixation

Back 51

converts N2 from the atmosphere.

Front 52

assimilation

Back 52

producers take up either ammonium or nitrate

Front 53

ammonification

Back 53

decomposers in soil and water break down biological nitrogen compounds into ammonium

Front 54

nitrification

Back 54

nitrifying bacteria convert ammonium into nitrite and then into nitrate

Front 55

denitrification

Back 55

denitrifying bacteria in oxygen-poor soil and stagnant water convert nitrate into nitrous oxide and then into nitrogen gas(N2).

Front 56

Sulfur cycle

Back 56

mostly underground, driven by bacteria, minor part of atmosphere

Front 57

Phosphorus Cycle

Back 57

no atmospheric component, cycles between land and organisms, phosphorus in soil is absorbed by plant roots

Front 58

intraspecific competition

Back 58

members of same species compete for resources

Front 59

interspecific competition

Back 59

members of different species compete for resources

Front 60

what are humans doing to atmosphere and carbon cycle

Back 60

increased CO2

Front 61

stabilization wedge

Back 61

reduce carbon emissions, enough wedges can stop tripling carbon emissions, strategy to redyce carbon emissions that grows in 50 years. Energy efficiency and conservation, fossil fuel-based strategies, nuclear power, renewables and biostorage