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128 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Suface water comes from?
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Precipation, part of hydrologic cycle & result of exogenic energy
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Water can be "Intercepted"
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water (precipitaion)strikes vegetation or ground cover
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Stemflow
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water that flows from leaves downplant stems to ground
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water gets below the surface
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Infiltration
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Infiltration
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water (precipition) percolating below the surface
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Amount of water that would evaporate and transpire under optimal conditions
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Potentianl evapotranspiration
(POTET) |
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POTET is related to
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Amount of solar radiationan area receives and yearly temp patterns
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Actual evapotransipiration
(ACTET) |
The actual amount of evaporation and transpiration that occurs
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what indicates if there is adequate water in the soil for plants
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the relationship between POTET and ACTET
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/when do deficits in water supply occur
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When POTET exceeds ACTET
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Ecosystem is
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fuctional unit of biosphere
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Ecosystem is composed of
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Plants animals & microbes interacting with each other and their enviroment
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How are ecosystems defined
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based on the specific spatial extent area
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to better understand ecosystems
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understand the hierarchy found in them in terms of organisms
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ecosystems maintain their viability through
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energy flow and nutrient cycling
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Species
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an organism that has the ability to interbreed successfully
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Population
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number of individuals of a particular species in a defined area
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Community
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groups of populations interacting at a specific location
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Ecosystem
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is composed of distinct/interacting communities
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Biome
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largest classification of ecosystems
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Habitat
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Specific physical environment where a species lives
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Niche
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function or occupation of a given species in a community
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Biodiversity
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Number of species in an area
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Ecotone
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boundry between ecosystems
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two broad classifications for organisms
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Generalist & Specialists
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Generalists
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Have wide tolerances for abiotic conditions, habitats or diverse food sources
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Specialists
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Have narrow tolerances for abiotic conditions, habitats, or specific food sources
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what controls where a species can live and its niche
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abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem
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Abiotic (non-living) componnets of the environment consists of?
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solar radiation(temperture/seasonality), precipitaion(surface and soil moisture/seasonality
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solar radiation
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temperature/seasonality
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changes in temperature, precipitation and seasonality are controlled by
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latitudinal location
*page 50 top |
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In general elevational changes in abiotic conditions are similar to
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latitudinal changes in abiotic conditions
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biotic components of the environment include two types of interactions
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Competition and symbiotic interactions
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Competions in the form of competitive exclusion is
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the idea that when two species with the same resource requirements co-occur one survies the other dies out
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symbiotic interations can be classified as
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Predation
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Predation
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the act of feeding on other organisms
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Mutualism
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and interaction where both species receive positive benefits
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Producers
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organisms that use solar energy and CO2 to create sugar(plants)
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self feeders are also known as
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autotrophs
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Photosynthesis is performed by
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producers
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Solar energy plus 6H2O plus6CO2=
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C6H12O6 + 6O2
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Where does photosynthesis happen
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in Chlorophyll located in cells of plants (usually leaves)
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Photosynthesis process does what
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stores glucose as as starch for later use
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what is the glucose used for and how
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to build cells through respiration
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Respiration
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C6H12O + 6O2 =
6H2O + 6CO2 +energy |
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what makes energy available from glucose and release water and carbon dioxide
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Respiration
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who preforms photosynthesis
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ONLY producers
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Use organic material as a source of energyand nutrients
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Consumers
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Consumers are also known as
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Heterotrophes Meaning they feed on each other
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Heterotrophes means
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they feed on each other
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how do consumers us glucose(starch)and extract energy
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through respiration giving off water and CO2
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there are 4 types of consumers
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Primary Consumers
Secondary Consumers Tertiary Consumers Omnivores |
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Primary Consumers feeds on
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Producers (herbivores-plant eaters) cows, rabbits mice
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Herbivores plant eaters
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cow, rabbits mice
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Secondary consumer feeds on
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Primary consumers (carnivores) birds that eat plant eating insects, spiders
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Tertiary consumers feeds on
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secondary and primary
consumers (carnivores)hawks, sharks |
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Omnivores feed on
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producers or consumers rats pigs cockroaches humans
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Dead plant and animal material
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Decoposers and detritus
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Decomposers
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fungi, bacteria, detritus (dead) feeders, crab, earthworms, ants vultures
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Half of all plant material is created each year is consumed by
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decomposers and detritus feeders
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two factors that determine if ecosystems are funtioning properly
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Energy flow and
Nutrient cycling |
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Energy Flow is
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Movement of usable energy from one category of organism or trophic level to another
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90% of energy is used up through
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respiration
not available for the next higher level |
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Biomass
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the weight of living organisms in a community ecosystem
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several ways to measure energy
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based on the idea that energy can be stored as glucose otherwise known as Biomass
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Gross Primary productivity
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Total amount of plant material produced in a given year
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Plants respire and use up energy ..better measure of how much biomass (energy) in an ecosystem is
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Net Primary Productivity which is amount of biomass in an eco system with respiration and decay subtracted out
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yearly net primary productivity is highest
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in places where abiotic conditions are best for plants, the tropics
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Nutrient cyclying
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the process by which elements are supplied to living organisms
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the vast majority of elements required for life:
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Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen (99%)
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Other important elelments required for life
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Nitrogen, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Phosphorus
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Eco systems (organisms) cannot fuction if
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the elements are not recycled
(made available) |
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A food Chain
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relation between specific producers and consumers
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Most consumers even specialist
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have more than one specific orgnanism that they consume
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In Reality
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food chains appear as food webs
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The nature of ecosystems
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there is less energy availble at higher tropic levels,is the mechanism that causes toxin concentrations to increase in higher consumers
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Toxins remain and become concentrated
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as biomas is used through respiration
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Ecosystems are designated by
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the major primary producers (vegetation) in them
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Having Simple or complex structure
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can characterize vegetation
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"Simple vegetation structure"
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indicates a single layer of vegetation
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"Complex vegetation Structure"
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indicates mulitple layers of vegetation
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does not have diversity of abiotic conditions
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simple vegetation structure
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Ecosystem health is dependent on
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efficient energy flow and adequate nutrient cycling
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Some species play a more important role than others in maintaining
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the flow of energy or nutrients or maintaining the proper vegetation structure
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Keystone species
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a species that strongly infulences community structure
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To determine if an ecosystem is healthy requires
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examining not a keystone species but an "Indicator species"
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Often a High trophic level consumer
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Indicator Species
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If the energy and nutrient pyramid that supports the population is healthy
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higher trophic level consumer has healthy population
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Succession is
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the growth of one community which causes changes in the environment(most often abiotic) makes it favorable fora growth of a second community
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Primary Succession
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establishment of communities in areas where no communities had previously existed as an area --glacial retreat or top of lava flow
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Secondary succession
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establishment of communities after some disturbance has disruped the ecosystem but soil remains intact --flood--fire--windstorm
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Key difference between primary and secondary succession
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secondary succession occcurs in areas where soil remains after disturbance
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Pioneer Community
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group of populations that initially grow after a disturbance
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Aquatic systems (lakes and ponds)
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also experience successional processes
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Composed of both organic(plant/fish) and inorganic material
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Lake sediments
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Any discrete event in time that disrupts ecosytems or population structure and changes resources, soil, or the physical environment
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"Disturbance"
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4 components of disturbance regime
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Spatial extent of event:how much area is affected
Frequency of Event: how often do events occur Intensity of event: how much energy is associated with the event Severity of event: how much damage is done |
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Tree Rings
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The tree heals and there is arecord of the fire as a scar
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Stand Age
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area of high severity fires gives approimate date on the last fire only goes back one or two fires trees keep burning
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Charcoal
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Check page 58
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Biomes
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The largest division of ecosytems
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Examination of the earths biomes reveals
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the control that abiotic conditions have on their distribution and the net primary productivity (NPP) associated with each one
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Succulents
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plants that store water ub keaves abd stems (cactus) limited by freezing temps
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Phreatophytes
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plants with deep root networks to tap moisture below surface, occupy stream drainages (arroyos)
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Non Phreatophytes
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have shallow large root networks to collect rainfall
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Ephermerals
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plants with short life cycles, during dry period exist in seed banks - avoid drought by not living very long
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Wisconsin has 4 major ecosystems
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swamps and marshes
Midlatitude Broadleaf and Mixed forest Boreal forests Temperate grassland |
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Make signigicant impact on biosphere
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Humans
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Responsible for introducing species into new ecosystems and change communities they have entered
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Humans
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Responsible for altering abiotic conditions at both local and global scale w/long lasting effects on ecosytems
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Humans
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5 mass extinctions over the last 500 millon years
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proved by examination of fossils
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Mass Extinction
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an abrupt loss of the majority of species
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Mass Extinction
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may take afew millons years but geologic time frame is rapid
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Extinctions
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Loss of species
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Extinctions always happen by
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result of minor chages in abiotic conditins or biotic interations such as competition or predation
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Mass Extinctions
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caused by catastrophic changes in abiotic conditions or biotic interations
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440mya
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late Ordovician age
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365mya
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late Devonian
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225
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late Premian
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210mya
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late Triassic
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65mya
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end of Cretaceous
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causes for mass extinctions
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meteor impact
changing sea levels |
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exotic species
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Introduced species
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three reasons introduced spieces out compete naive
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1. tend to be generalist can occupy awide variety of habitaits
2.They reproduce quickly 3.They have no natural predators in the new ecosystem |
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examples of introduced species
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zebra mussels
africanized honey bees Kudzu--ground cover Eurasion milfoil lives in water plant?? |
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how to slow down biodiversity associated with human activity
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stop habitat degradation associated with atmospheric soil and water pollution
habitat destruction and fragmentation which is associated with farming logging mining try to keep species from extinction |
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succesful natural reserve to conserve biodiverity several issues should be considered
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large enough populations of species
appropiate habitat and food resources for species protection from direct human activity |
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Major problem of ntural reserves and wildlife parks
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have boundaries that were established by political requlation and land ownership not by the environmental conditions that govern ecosytems
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