Chapter 54:Ecosystem Ecology

Home > Preview

The flashcards below were created by user dante01 on FreezingBlue Flashcards.


  1. What is an ecosystem?
    all living organisms in an area + the physical envrionment
  2. Primary producer
    an autotroph, synthesize its own food form inorganic soruces
  3. Net Primary Productivity(NPP):
    • energy that is invested in new tissue or offspring. represents the amount of energy that is available to other living components of an ecosystem:consumers and decomposers
    • -carbon fixed in photosynthesis
  4. Biomass
    organic material that non-photosynthetic organisms can eat
  5. Trophic levels
    • 1.consumers eat living organisms
    • 2.primary consumers eat primary producers
    • 3.secondary consumers eat primary consumers
    • 4.tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers
  6. gross primary productivity
    the total amount of photosynthesis in a given area and time period
  7. Ectotherms or Endotherms;biomass is more effective in
    biomass is more effective in ectotherms, devote much less energy to maintenance than endotherms do
  8. Biomagnification
    increase in concentration at higher levels in a food chain
  9. NPP is higher on___than____
    NPP is higher on land than water
  10. The terrestrial ecosystems with the highest productivity are located in the______
    The terrestrial ecosystems with the highest productivity are located in the wet tropics
  11. what limits productivity?
    • 1.light
    • 2.water
    • 3.Carbon dioxide
    • 4.Nutrients
  12. What does iron do when released in the ocean?
    Iron increases the amount of chlorophyll a in the ocean which increases NPP
  13. Biogeochemical cycle
    the path that an element takes as it moves from abiotic systems through producers, consumers, and decomposers and back again
  14. Humus
    completely decyaed organic material
  15. what limits the rate at which nutrients move through an ecosystem?
    -the decomposition of detritus. Until decomposition occurs, nutrients stay tied up in intact tissue
  16. The decomposition rate is influenced by:
    • 1.abiotic condition; oxygen availability, temperature
    • 2. the quality of the detritus
  17. decompositon is inhibited if detritus is
    • 1.low in nitrogen
    • 2. high in lignin
  18. Watershed
    areas drained by a single stream
  19. Pro/cons of nitrogen in ocean
    • 1.increases productivity
    • 2.decreases biodiversity and forms dead-zones in aquatic environments
  20. Nitrogen cycle
    • Natural source: Biological fixation/lightning
    • Human source: Nitrogen fertilizer, fossil fuels
  21. Phenology
    the timing of seasonal events
  22. NPP is _____on land and _______in the oceans
    NPP is increasing on land but decreasing in the oceans
  23. most of the net primary productivity that is consumed is used for what purpose?
    respiration by primary consumers
  24. What is biomagnification?
    -accumualation of certain molecules at high concentration at upper trophic levels
  25. what is normally the lonegst-lived reservoir for carbon?
    Petroleum
  26. The greatest limiting factor
    • 1.nitrogen
    • 2.Iron
  27. How ro measure global warming?
    measure average ocean temperature

Card Set Information

Author:
 dante01
ID:
 100260
Filename:
 Chapter 54:Ecosystem Ecology
Updated:
2011-09-07 06:16:56
Tags:
LS
Folders:

Description:
Final
Show Answers:

What would you like to do?

Home > Flashcards > Print Preview