APES Cycles Test

Set of living things and their nonliving environment

Ecosystem

Factors in the environment that are alive

biotic

Factors in the environment that are nonliving

abiotic

Scientific term for producer

autotroph

Scientific term for consumer

heterotroph

Animal which feeds on the remains of prey other animals have killed

scavenger

Small animals which feed on ground litter

detritus feeder

Plant which grows on dead things

saprophytes

Organism which breaks down dead material into basic nutrients

decay organism

Feeding levels on an energy or biomass pyramid

trophic levels

Consumer which eats producers

primary

Consumer which eats herbivores

secondary

Consumer which eats carnivores

tertiary

Amount of energy captured by an ecosystem

GPP

Amount of energy which can be passed to consumers

NPP

The average percent of energy contained in an organism that can be passed to the next level in an ecosystem

transfer energy

What is the difference in a food chain and a food web

Chain is transferred in terms of trophic levels while web shows feeding relationships between organisms

What percent of sunlight is captured by green plants

1%

What is the equation for calculating GPP

NPP + Respiration

Why can GPP not be measured directly

Can't calculate how much energy is being taken in because some of the energy is being taken up at the same time

What are the units for GPP

Jules/ m sq

What is the usual NPP (as a percent of GPP) for an ecosystem

40%

What two land ecosystems have the highest NPP

Wetlands and Tropical rainforests

What two marine ecoystems have the highest NPP

Coral reefs and saltmarshes

Amount of biomass present at any given time

Standing crop

Weight of living material in an ecosystem

Biomass

What are the two processes which control energy flow through an ecosystem?

Photosynthesis and cellular respiration

Equation for Photosynthesis

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2.

Equation for Cellular Respiration

C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O

How is most energy lost to the ecosystem?

Heat

What living things have cellular respiration?

All living organisms

What is the difference in a detritivore and a decomposer?

Decomposers feed on organic materials, detritivores feed on dead/organic materials

What determines the productivity of an ecosystem?

Available energy

What happens to the rest of the energy in sunlight?

Reflected

1. How can productivity be low but biomass be high?

Productivity is the rate at which energy is added to the bodies of organisms in the form of biomass. Biomass is simply the amount of matter that's stored in the bodies of a group of organisms.

Why do energy and biomass pyramids generally look the same?

They have similar proportions because in energy pyramids, energy is released for every level thereby having a smaller apex and a larger base. In biomass pyramids, the apex represents the smallest size of mass while the base shows the largest mass thus resulting also in a pyramid.

What is meant by "eating low on the food chain"? Why does it increase sustainability?

Eating mostly plants; carbon foot print of eating plants is lower than meat.