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61 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Ecology |
study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their abiotic environment - involves abiotic and biotic factors |
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Population |
Several organisms of the same kind in a particular area; population dynamics-the unit of evolution |
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Community |
interacting populations in a particular area; interactions among species |
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Ecosystem |
a community plus the environment; flow of energy and matter |
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Landscape |
a region that includes several interacting ecosystems |
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Landscape Ecology |
study of connections among ecosystems in a given region |
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Biosphere |
Regions of the Earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere inhabited by living things; global processes |
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Energy |
the ability to do work |
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Potential Energy |
stored energy |
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Kinetic Energy |
energy possessed due to movement |
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Thermodynamics |
study of energy and its transformations |
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First law of thermodynamics |
Energy cannot be created or destroyed - total energy content always the same, energy can change from one form to another |
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Photosynthesis |
solar energy converted to chemical |
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Cellular Respiration |
process by which other organisms gain energy from eating the tissues of producers |
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Second law of thermodynamics |
amount of usable energy in the universe decreases over time as some is lost as heat |
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producer |
manufacture large organic molecules from simple inorganic molecules |
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consumer |
animals that consume other organisms |
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detritus |
waste/debris, organic material from decomposed things |
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decomposer |
bacteria and fungi that break down dead and decaying organisms |
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energy flow |
the passage of energy in a one-way direction through an ecosystem, occurs in food chains |
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food chain |
the sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers |
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trophic level |
levels in the food chain, due to energy lost as heat along the way less energy is available for organisms at higher trophic levels. |
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food web |
a complex of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem |
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ecological pyramid |
graphically represents the relative energy values of each trophic level |
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Gross primary productivity |
the rate at which energy is captured during photosynthesis |
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Net primary productivity |
the amount of biomass found in excess of that broken down by a plant during cellular respiration |
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ecological niche |
the totality of an organism's adaptations, its use of resources, and the lifestyle to which it is fitted |
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habitat |
part of an organism's niche, the place where the organism lives |
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fundamental niche |
the potential, idealized niche |
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realized niche |
the actual niche an organism occupies |
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resource partitioning |
one way species avoid or reduce niche overlap, serves to reduce competition for resources |
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symbiosis |
two species living in close association |
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coevolution |
two organisms influence each other in their evolution |
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mutualism |
both organisms benefit |
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commensalism |
one benefits the other is unaffected |
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parasitism |
one benefits, one is harmed |
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predation |
consumption of one species by another |
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competition |
interaction among organisms that vie for the same resources in an ecosystem, such as food or living space |
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keystone species |
a species crucial to the maintenance of the ecosystem |
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List flow of energy |
(First trophic level) producers-primary consumers-secondary consumers(fourth trophic level) tertiary consumers-decomposers |
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Three rules of energy pyramids |
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) |
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where does most of solar energy go? |
reflected or passes through producers without being absorbed |
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Matter |
the material that composes organisms |
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Biogeochemical involves... |
biological, geological, chemical processes |
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Cycling vs. flow - energy and matter |
Energy flows through ecosystem and matter cycles through ecosystem |
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Carbon cycle |
global movement of carbon between abiotic environment and organisms |
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Hydrolic cycle |
water circulates among the ocean, land, and atmosphere |
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runoff |
water that flows from land to rivers and lakes |
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watersheds |
land where runoff drains |
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Nitrogen cycle |
five steps: Nitrogen fixation, nitrification, assimilation, ammonification, denitrification |
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Nitrogen fixation |
converts N2 from the atmosphere. |
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assimilation |
producers take up either ammonium or nitrate |
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ammonification |
decomposers in soil and water break down biological nitrogen compounds into ammonium |
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nitrification |
nitrifying bacteria convert ammonium into nitrite and then into nitrate |
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denitrification |
denitrifying bacteria in oxygen-poor soil and stagnant water convert nitrate into nitrous oxide and then into nitrogen gas(N2). |
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Sulfur cycle |
mostly underground, driven by bacteria, minor part of atmosphere |
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Phosphorus Cycle |
no atmospheric component, cycles between land and organisms, phosphorus in soil is absorbed by plant roots |
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intraspecific competition |
members of same species compete for resources |
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interspecific competition |
members of different species compete for resources |
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what are humans doing to atmosphere and carbon cycle |
increased CO2 |
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stabilization wedge |
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 |