BIO 122 Test 1

Primary Productivity

In most ecosystems, the amount of light energy captured by photosynthetic organisms

Gross Primary Productivity

The total amount of primary productivity in an area, often reported as a rate with units g/m2/year

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The amount of primary productivity present in biomass, often reported as a rate with units g/m2/year

Human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP)

The amount of primary productivity used by humans, often reported as a rate with units of gigatons of carbon per year

Trophic Level

The level at which a particular species feeds, starting with primary producers and moving on to primary consumers, secondary consumers, and so on.

Plasmid

A small, extrachromosomal loop of DNA. Many of the best-studied plasmids carry genes for antibiotic resistance.

Peptidoglycan

found in bacteria; A structural carbohydrate found in bacterial cell walls. It is a lattice made of sugars linked with β-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds that have short chains of peptide-bonded amino acids protruding from them.

Microbe

Viruses and any microscopic organism; including bacterial, archaean, eukaryotic species

Primary Producer

An organism that produces its own food, usually via photosynthesis. Primary producers are the source of the chemical energy and carbon compounds that all other organisms rely on for food. ex. plants

Microbiome

The collection of microbes that lives in a particular location

generalists

organisms that can do a lot of things; located in a wide variety of locations; not fussy about environment can survive in different circumstances examples: Humans, squirrels, mice, pigeons, seagulls

endemics

very specialized to a particular area; fussy about environment and location examples: Venus flytrap, landlocked salmon in ME lakes, Galapagos giant tortoise

Ecosystem

all the organisms living in communities, as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact, and the way energy moves through; governed by physical laws; both energy and matter are transformed.

Biogeochemical Cycle of Water

 Abiotic: The water cycle is abiotic (precipitation, evaporation etc.)

Biotic: Animals and plants drink water and pee it out, water in feces, breathe out water particles 

4 major nutrients used in Photosynthesis

water, phosphate, carbon dioxide, nitrogen

Biogeochemical Cycle of Carbon Dioxide

Abiotic: in the atmosphere, in the water, wind blows it, fire produces it

Biotic: we breathe out carbon dioxide, plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breaks it down turning it into sugar molecules 

Biogeochemical Cycle of Phosphorous

Abiotic: It’s in rocks 

Biotic: lichen and moss break down rocks, it’s in the soil, small plants mineralize the phosphorous atoms and take in phosphorus, and we eat it

Biogeochemical Cycle of Nitrogen

only nutrient needed by all living things that cannot be taken up in its natural form; has to be converted to NO3 by bacteria through nitrogen fixation; it’s the only one with an extra step 

Basic Science

an understanding without immediate application; knowledge for knowledge’s sake

Applied Science

the use of knowledge to solve a real world problem; development of technology

Theory

tested and proven by the scientific method; whole pile of data behind it

The Scientific Process

Make Observations, Ask Questions, Generate a Hypothesis, Perform Experiment, Make Conclusions, Review & Revise, Share with the World

Domains

Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya

Prokaryotes

divided into archaea and bacteria; no internal structure; no tissue, organs or organelles; one circular chromosome; cells divide by binary fission; no a nucleus; almost all single celled;

Eukaryotes

multiple linear chromosomes; have a nucleus; multicellular sometimes single celled; cells divide by mitosis and/or meiosis;

Global ecology

the entire globe

Landscape ecology

where two ecosystems come together and touch ex. the edge of a forest borders a savannah

Ecosystem ecology

organic and inorganic, weather patterns, what rock is made of, add in all the abiotic factors

Community ecology

organic, different organisms in the same area and their interactions

Population ecology

organic, group of the same species in the same area

Organismal ecology

organic, individual organisms

Physical Laws

thermodynamics; energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred; matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred; every exchange of energy increases the entropy of the system

Entropy

energy spreads into more space; tendency to spread out

Food Chain

the sequence of organisms that eat each other in a particular ecosystem, starting with plants and other primary producers and moving to primary consumers that eat plants, to secondary consumers that eat primary consumers, to tertiary consumers that eat secondary consumers, and so on

Energy Transfer between Trophic Level Rule

only 10% of the energy is transferred to the next level; 90% is lost as waste or unable to be used