Ecosystems and Energy
Terms : Hide Images
| 6746454558 | Ecosystem | consists of all the organisms living in a community, as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact |  | 0 |
| 6746538438 | Energy Flow | movement of energy through trophic levels *FLOWS!* | 1 | |
| 6746541529 | 1st Law of Thermodynamics | energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed - through feeding relationships! |  | 2 |
| 6746543989 | 2nd Law of Thermodynamics | energy not utilized is lost as heat- ecosystems need continuous input from the sun! |  | 3 |
| 6746550317 | Chemical Cycling | movement of matter from one part of the ecosystem to another *CYCLES!* | 4 | |
| 6746562334 | Trophic Levels | 1. Primary Producers 2. Primary Consumers 3. Secondary Consumers 4. Tertiary Consumers 5. Detritivores |  | 5 |
| 6746573488 | Primary Producers | {autotrophs} "self feeders" use light energy to synthesize sugars via photosynthesis - the source of the energy available to an ecosystem! |  | 6 |
| 6746588862 | Heterotrophs | "other-feeders" organisms in trophic levels above plants that cannot make their own food and are therefore consumers |  | 7 |
| 6746604670 | Primary Consumers | Herbivores- eat the primary producers | 8 | |
| 6746606058 | Secondary Consumers | Carnivores that eat the herbivores (primary) | 9 | |
| 6746606059 | Tertiary Consumers | Carnivores that eat other carnivores (secondary) | 10 | |
| 6746607949 | Omnivores | eat both producer and other consumers - can feed at multiple trophic levels | 11 | |
| 6746624570 | Detritus | nonliving organic material "waste" example: remains of dead organisms, feces, fallen leaves, wood | 12 | |
| 6746629597 | Decomposers/Detritivores | get energy from detritus **convert organic materials from all trophic levels to inorganic compounds in the soil that can be taken up by plants = nutrients cycling through an ecosystem! Prokaryotes and Fungi = important detritivores! |  | 13 |
| 6769935371 | Energy and Other Limiting Factors Control Primary Production in Ecosystems | - the energy budget of an ecosystem depends on its primary productivity - Primary Production: the amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs - the total amount of photosynthetic production sets the "spending limit" for the entire ecosystem's energy budget | 14 | |
| 6769938088 | Gross and Net Production | Gross Primary Production (GPP): the amount of energy from light converted to chemical energy of organic molecules (sugar) per unit time (ecosystem's total primary production) - 50-90% of GPP is lost to Ra by primary producers - organisms only use NPP - which limit the food webs Net Primary Production (NPP): GPP minus energy used by primary producers for "autotrophic respiration" (Ra) NPP = GPP - Ra NPP is expressed as - energy per unit area per unit time (J/m2 yr), or - biomass added per unit area per unit time (g/m2 yr) | 15 | |
| 6770081604 | Secondary Production | the amount of chemical energy in consumer's food that is converted to new biomass during a given period of time | 16 | |
| 6770108288 | Trophic Efficiency | percentage of production (energy stored in biomass) transferred from one trophic level to the next, usually ~ 10% - trophic efficiencies take into account energy lost through respiration and contained in feces, and the energy stored in unconsumed portions of the food source | 17 | |
| 6770169001 | Biological Magnification | the concentration of toxins in higher levels of a food web example: DDT or substances that don't degrade / fat soluble |  | 18 |
| 6779948370 | Biological and Geochemical Processes Cycle Nutrient and Water in Ecosystems | life depends on recycling chemical elements - water, carbon, nitrogen cycle in both terrestrial and aquatic decomposers (detritivores) play a key role in the general pattern of chemical cycling | 19 | |
| 6779962972 | Biogeochemical Cycles | nutrient cycles that contain both biotic and abiotic components - allows scientists to trace how nutrients flow through ecosystems and how humans may have altered the flow | 20 | |
| 6779964143 | The Water Cycle | - water is essential to all organisms - liquid water is the primary phase used ocean = 97% of biosphere's water; 2% in glaciers and polar ice aps, 1% in lakes, rivers, and groundwater - water moves by the process of evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and movement through surface and groundwater |  | 21 |
| 6779965555 | The Carbon Cycle | carbon-based organic molecules are essential to all organisms - historically has been a close balance between the amount of CO2 removed by photosynthesis and added by cellular respiration - human burning of fossil fuels has added CO2 to atmosphere! - carbon reservoirs = fossil fuels, soils and sediments, solutes in oceans, plant and animal biomass, the atmosphere, and sedimentary rocks |  | 22 |
| 6779966877 | The Nitrogen Cycle | - nitrogen is a component of amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids - important nutrient for plant growth! - most of the Earth's nitrogen in the atmosphere is in the form of N2 - not usable by plants! Only Ammonium & Nitrate can be utilized by plants! Nitrogen fixation: bacteria in soil converts (N2) into forms usable by plants (NH4+ or NO3-) Nitrification: ammonium (NH4+) is oxidized to nitrite and then nitrate (NO3-) by bacteria (for plants) Denitrification: bacteria converts NO3- back to N2 to the atmosphere |  | 23 |
| 6779991806 | Greenhouse Effects | the trapping of heat by the Earth's atmosphere - CO2 causes: industrialization, burning of fossil fuels, loss of forests - who is responsible for all this?! results: Earth will heat up, ice caps melt and sea levels will rise, climate shifts |  | 24 |
