Ecology stability c

Sustainability of natural ecosystem

• slow adaptive change

• living organisms have thrived

• sutatanle ecosystem can support itself without any outside infleunces

  • everything needed is provided by ecosystem

Requirements for long term stability

• sufficient supply of energy

• nutrient recycling

• genetic diveristy

• response to climate change

Human impacts of ecosystems

1. deforstation

2. hutning

3. overfishing

4. harvesting trees

5. soil esorion and nutrients leading

6. use of pesticides and plastics

Keystone species

key spices that hold food web in equilibrium and if removed there can be massive changes

Mesocosm

closed ecosystem where no nutrient or material can enter and leave and only light

• Earth

Trophic Cascade

decrease of availability of resources when apex predators go down (top-down control)

Top soil

upper layer that contains rich nutrients

Leaching

Use of fertilizer

nitrogen phosphorus potassium

Carbon footprint

total amount of greenhouse gases generated

• use of petroleum, chemical fertilizers, clearing forest, transportation of crops

Eutrophication

process where water is over enriched with nutrients(nitrogen and phosphorus) leads to overgrowth of algae

• very light os able to seep through, algae in lower layers dies off

  • aerobic bacteira decomposes excess growth of algae

Biochemical oxygen demand BOD

oxygen needed for bacteria in water, increased oxygen consumption by bacteria decomposing algae leads to lack of oxygen causing aerobes to die

Biomagnification

phenomenon when harmful substances in environment build p in the organism to the top fo the chain where organism consume toxins that doesn’t break down

Methyl mercury

bottom tropic levels convert elemental and inorganic mercury into methyl mercury

• moves through the food chain and it gets more concerted in the organism tissues

DDT

dichloro diphenyl trichloethane

synthetic insecticide that acts as vectors for diseases

• killed most beneficial unsends and mosquitos adapted

• caused concentration in fatty tissues

Biodegradable

object being broken down mechanically(microorganism)

Macroplastics

larger than 5mm single use plastic

Microplastics

smaller than 5mm, originally macroplastic but broke into smaller pieces

Rewilding

activities that conserve, restore, protect wilderness areas

• reintroduce apex, key spices, wildlife corridors, stop logging hunting, minimize human activity in ecosystems

Greenhouse effect

how the atmosphere retains heat and keeps the planet warmer even if no sunlhging is reaching the sruface

Greenhouse gasses

carbon dioxide or methane in the atmospheres - ability to absorb and radiate infrared radiation which converts short wave lengths from sun to long waves at all throughout

Proxies

a measurable characteristic that can be used to measure the temperature of the atmosphere

Global Warming

long term heating of Earths surface due to human actives that increase heat trapment, greenhouse gasses

Benthic zone

bottom zone of a body of water

• corpses will reach the bottom or will be consumed on their way

Albedo

Ability of a curve to reflect light

• high albedo: light colored ejects where very little light is absorbed

  • low albedo: dark colored where more sunlight is absorbed and converted to heat

Permafrost

type of soil in very cold weather, frozen solid layer

• push soil up and only short and shallow plants can grow

  • ice melting allows microbes to be activated and decompose trapped organic matter

Methanogenic Archea

microbes in soil that generate methane allowing for warmer temperature that allow it to be more active

Forest browning

lack of water in soil that permits the tree from photosystensis

• primary production reduces and leads to less carbon dioxide

trees lose their needles with green pigment causing them to brown, fall off, die

Legacy carbon

carbon thats been locked in soil from past human activities

Legacy carbon combustion

Legacy carbon released to atmosphere due to not being able to decompose in cold climate

• forest fires

Tipping point

certain threshold if reached or supposed causes massive changes and imbalance of a system

Land fast

sea ice forming when ocean water freezes and is connected to the mainland

Corilolis effect

water being moved around by winds but also spin as earths rotation is on its axis

El nino southern osciliation

winds push against normal prevailing winds that create an uwpward movement causing warming water to stop instead of being pushed(down welling)

• causes for organism to not regicide nutrient and food chains are effected by production fails, and less energy

Nutrient upwelling

nutrient rich water from deep parts of the ocean move up to surface

• give nutrince to food webs

Range migration

species range shifts to new location due to temperatures

Carbon sequestration

removing carbon from atomosphere, taking atmospheric carbon dioxide and locking it in order to reverse climate change

Reforestation

replacing deforested areas that allow trees to remove carbon from atmpshere

Afforstation

planting trees in areas where frost didint previously exist to increase carbon capture