Chapter 5 : Ecosystems study guide

what are the five (5) levels of higher organization? From least specific to most specific.

Biosphere

ecosystem

community

population

individual

what are examples of ecosystems

Rainforest

desert

lake

what is photosynthesis?

when a plant uses the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen

what are the reactant in photosynthesis?

water , carbon dioxide, and sunlight

what are the products in Photosynthesis?

Sugar and glucose.

what is the equation for Photosynthesis?

6CO₂ + 6H₂O SUNLIGHT C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

what is a niche?

the role of an organism or population in its ecosystem

what is a producer?

\n a living thing that can make its own food

what are the three (3) different kinds of consumers called?

herbivore

carnivore

omnivore

**How do nutrients move in an ecosystem?**

**nutrients cycle into and out of producers, consumers, and decomposers.  they go from producers to consumers and decomposers, from consumers to decomposers and producers, and from decomposers to producers and consumers (it's cyclical)**

what are the names of the important steps in the water cycles?

**precipitation, run-off, filtration, evaporation, transpiration, and condensation**

what is the carbon-oxogen cycle?

when the atmospheric oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide in animal respiration and regenerated by green plants in photosynthesis.

what is a food chain?

\n shows how each member of an ecosystem community gets its food

what is an example of a food chain?

Grass → Grasshopper → Rat → Fox.

why does energy decrease as you move up the food chain?

because 90% of the energy gets lost in waste and heat.

what is an energy pyramid

diagram that shows how energy moves from one feeding level to the next in a food chain

what is the base of the energy pyramid ?

the base of the energy pyramid is the bottom being 10,000 energy units

what is the percentage of energy that gets passed on from one level to the next?

10% of the energy will pass on to the next leval.

what is a food web?

a group of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem

what is ecological balance?

what are the three types of interaction in an ecosystem?

competition

predator-prey

symbiosis

competition

happens when two or more species depend on the same food source

predator-prey

animals feeding on other animals - predator

animals that get killed by other animals - prey

symbiosis

when two types of living thing live together benifiting each other.

what is a population?

\n a group of the same species

what is invasive species? why are they a problem?

a species that has been introduced to a region where it did not previously occur naturally and it spreads rapidly (usually in a bad way) . **it has no predators, can outcompete native species, etc.**

what is an exotic species?

an organism that is not native to an area

what is a pollutant? give me an example?

a variable that causes harm to an organism

an example - sulfur dioxide

what is chemosynthesis?

when producers use chemicals to make their food instead of the sun.