Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
34 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
ecosystem
|
consists of all organisms living in a community as well as all the abiotic factors with which they interact
|
|
|
trophic structure
|
structure of ecosystem showing feeding relationships
|
|
|
trophic levels
|
division of the species in a community or ecosystem on the basis of their main source of nutrition
|
|
|
primary producers
|
autotrophs
|
|
|
primary consumers
|
herbivores which eat plants or algae
|
|
|
secondary consumers
|
carnivores that eat herbivores
|
|
|
tertiary consumers
|
carnivores consuming other carnivores
|
|
|
detritivores
|
consumers that derive their energy from detritus
|
|
|
detritus
|
the non-living organic material such as feces, fallen leaves, and teh remains of dead organisms from all trophic levels
|
|
|
food chain
|
the pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level
|
|
|
food webs
|
the feeding relationships in an ecosystem woven
|
|
|
production
|
the rate of incorporation of energy and materials into the bodies of organisms
|
|
|
consumption
|
the metabolic use for growth and reproduction of assimilated organic materials
|
|
|
decomposition
|
the breakdown of organic materials to inorganic ones
|
|
|
primary productivity
|
the amount of light energy converted to chemical energy (organic compounds) by the autotrophs of an ecosystem during a given time period
|
|
|
gross primary productivity (GPP)
|
total primary productivity
|
|
|
net primary productivity (NPP)
|
equal to teh gross primary productivity minus the energy used by the producers for respiration
|
|
|
biomass
|
weight of vegetation added to the ecosystem expressing primary productivity
|
|
|
standing crop biomass
|
the total biomass of photosynthetic autotrophs present at a given time
|
|
|
limiting nutrient
|
single nutrient tha tlimits productivity
|
|
|
secondary productivity
|
the rate at which an ecosystem's consumers convert the chemical energy of the food they eat into their own new biomass
|
|
|
ecological efficiency
|
the percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next
|
|
|
pyramid of productivity
|
diagram representing multiplicative loss of energy from a food chain in which the trophic levels are stacked in blocks with primary producers forming the foundation of the pyramid
|
|
|
biomass pyramid
|
represents a consequence of decreasing energy transfers through a food web in which each tier represents the standing crop biomass in all trophic level
|
|
|
turnover time
|
standing crop biomass compared to their productivity
|
|
|
pyramid of numbers
|
the size of each block is proportional to the number of individual organisms present in each trophic level
|
|
|
biogeochemical cycles
|
nutrient circuits involving both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems
|
|
|
nitrogen fixation
|
pathway for nitrogen to enter ecosystem in which certain prokaryotes fix notrogen into minerals that can be used to synthesize nitrogenous organic compounds such as amino acids
|
|
|
nitrification
|
process in which certain aerobic bacteria oxidizes ammonium to nitrite and then to nitrate
|
|
|
denitrification
|
process in which some nitrate is converted back to nitrogen, returning to the atmosphere
|
|
|
ammonification
|
the decomposition of organic nitrogen back to ammonium
|
|
|
long-term ecological research (LTER)
|
research tracking the dynamics of natural ecosystems over relatively long periods of time
|
|
|
biological magnification
|
a process in which toxins become more concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web
|
|
|
greenhouse effect
|
the long-term effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration on Earth's heat budget
|
