Apes Chapter 3

Front 1

ecology

Back 1

the science of the relationship between organisms and their environment

Front 2

organism

Back 2

an idividual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist or fungus

Front 3

species

Back 3

a fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consiting of related organisms capable of interbreeding

Front 4

natural capital

Back 4

indispensable resources and benefits, essential for human survival and economic activity, provided by the ecosystem (renewable/non-renewable)

Front 5

population

Back 5

all the organisms that consitute a specific group or occur in a specified habitat

Front 6

habitat

Back 6

the area or environment where an organism or ecological community normally lives or occurs

Front 7

community

Back 7

an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area

Front 8

ecosystem

Back 8

an ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit

Front 9

biosphere

Back 9

the part of the earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life

Front 10

atmosphere

Back 10

the gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body, especially the one surrounding the earth, and retained by the celestial body's gravitational field

Front 11

lithosphere

Back 11

the outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle, approximately 100 km thick

Front 12

hydrosphere

Back 12

the waters of the earth's surface as distinguished from those of the lithosphere and the atmosphere

Front 13

solar capital

Back 13

solar energy from the sun reaching the earth

Front 14

natural greenhouse effect

Back 14

keeps the earth's climate warm and inhabitable

Front 15

biomes

Back 15

major regional or global biotic communities, such as grasslands or deserts, characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of life and the prevailing climate (temperature and precipitation)

Front 16

abiotic/biotic

Back 16

non-living/living components of an ecosystem

Front 17

range of tolerance

Back 17

how much an organism can take and still exist (temperature extremes, pressure changes, rainfall, pH, light levels); conditions for survival

Front 18

limiting factor principal

Back 18

one variable that can destroy an organism or population no matter how well the other variables are going

Front 19

producers/autotrophs

Back 19

create their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis; plants, some bacteria

Front 20

photosynthesis

Back 20

the process of creating food (glucose) and oxygen out of solar energy, water and carbon dioxidet

Front 21

chemosynthesis

Back 21

synthesis or carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water using energy obtained from the chemical oxidation of simple inorganic compounds (bacteria/fungi)

Front 22

consumers/heterotrophs

Back 22

organisms that cannot synthesize their own food and are dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition (omnivores/carnivores/herbivores/detritovores)

Front 23

omnivores

Back 23

eat what is available, plants and animals

Front 24

detritovores

Back 24

eat exclusively dead things, scavengers (feed on detritus or organic waste)

Front 25

aerobic/anaerobic respiration

Back 25

in the presence of oxygen/needless of the presence of oxygen

Front 26

biodiversity

Back 26

variability among living organisms on the earth or specified geographic region

Front 27

trophic level

Back 27

group of organisms that occupy the same position in a food chain

Front 28

ecological efficiency

Back 28

the ability of organisms at one trophic level to convert to their own use the potential energy supplied by their foodstuff at the trophic level directly beneath them

Front 29

gross primary productivity

Back 29

rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time

Front 30

net primary productivity

Back 30

GPP minus respiration (the rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy)

Front 31

weathering

Back 31

any of the chemical or mechanical processes by which rocks exposed to the weather undergo changes in character and break down

Front 32

soil horizons

Back 32

layers of soil

Front 33

soil profile

Back 33

cross-section of soil, diagram

Front 34

humus

Back 34

mineral-rich soil, darkens soil, highly nutritious, organic material

Front 35

infiltration

Back 35

the action of water entering soil

Front 36

leaching

Back 36

natural process by which water soluble substances (such as calcium, fertilizers, pesticides) are washed out from soil or wastes, causing pollution

Front 37

soil texture

Back 37

measurement of the proportion of mineral particles of different sizes that are found in the same sample of soil (sand, silt, clay)

Front 38

loam

Back 38

soil composed of a mixture of sand, clay, silt and organic matter

Front 39

porosity

Back 39

the volume of water that can be held in a soil; also refers to the ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume of the soil

Front 40

permeability

Back 40

the rate of flow of a liquid or gas through a porous material

Front 41

What are nutrient cycles called?

Back 41

biogeochemical cycles

Front 42

What are the five most common kinds?

Back 42

hydrologic, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, carbon

Front 43

What are the four most important elements?

Back 43

carbon, phosphorous, sulfur, nitrogen

Front 44

C-Atmosphere, CO2

Back 44

hydrologic, dissolved carbonates; sedimentary, fossil fuels

Front 45

N2-Atmosphere

Back 45

hydrologic, dissolved ammonium and nitrates

Front 46

P-Sedimentary, PO4

Back 46

hydrologic, dissolved phosphates

Front 47

S-Sedimentary, SO4

Back 47

atmospheric, sulfates, sulfur oxides, sulfuric acid; hydrologic, dissolved sulfates and sulfuric acid

Front 48

What is the energy flow through trophic levels?

Back 48

producers (autotrophs)-->primary consumers (herbivores)-->secondary consumers (carnivores/omnivores)-->tertiary consumers (top carnivores/omnivores)

Front 49

How can organisms move from one trophic level to another?

Back 49

by eating different types of things

Front 50

What will cause plants and animals to exist and thrive?

Back 50

the more sunlight and water

Front 51

How much energy is lost to the environment in energy flow?

Back 51

90%

Front 52

What are the three interconnected parts of the biosphere?

Back 52

hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere

Front 53

What are the three parts of matter or nutrient recycling?

Back 53

plant growth (photosynthesis), animal consumption (respiration), nutrient recycling (decomposition)

Front 54

What are the levels of organization?

Back 54

organisms-->populations-->communities-->ecosystems-->biospheres

Front 55

What are the differences between a prokaryotic and a eukaryotic cell?

Back 55

prokaryotic has flagellum, nucleoid, more basic; eukaryotic has mitochondria, nucleus, nucleolis, etc.

Front 56

What are the two main things that determine biome type?

Back 56

temperature and precipitation