Unit 4 - Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Make sure study (Carbon (pg 121-122), Nitrogen (pg 123-126), Phosphorus (pg 127)

dynamic equilibrium

homeostasis

emergent properties

characteristics not evident in the components alone (tree: leaves, branches, trunk, root, ect)

run-off

precipitation that flows over land and enters waterways

air shed

the geographic areas that produces air pollutants in its waterways

eutrophication

the process where a body of water becomes overly enriched with nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), leading to severe ecological changes

ecosystem

consists of all organisms & non-living entities that occur & interact at the same time

estuary

a water body where river flows into ocean mixing fresh water w/ salt water

primary production

photosynthesis

gross primary production

total amount of chemical energy produced by autotrophs

net primary production

the energy that remains after respiration & this is used to generate biomass

Net primary production - equation

NPP = GPP — energy used in respiration

secondary production

generate biomass in their body (skin, muscle, bones)

productivity

rate at which autotrophs convert energy to biomass

net primary productivity

ecosystem who convert energy to biomass rapidly have a high _________

landscape ecology

study how landscapes structure affect the abundance distribution & interaction of organism.

• landscape is made of an array of patches

• patches spread spatially over a landscape in a

metapopulation

subpopulations that stay within their respective patches, but others move away to other patches

nutrient cycles (biogeological cycles)

how nutrients move through ecosystems - in the pathways chemical elements/matches travel through

Bio/Hydro/Astmo - sphere

nutrients move form one pool/reservation to another

residence time

remains for varying amounts of time

flux

rat at which materials move

reservior

an artificial water body behind a dam that stores water for human use

source

reservoir releases more materials than it accepts

sink

when a reservior accepts more than it releases

transpiration

plant water → air

water table

appear limit of ground water held in a aquifer

carbon cycle

routes carbon takes through environment (learn: where is carbon found?(pg 121))

nitrogen cycle

how nitrogen travels

nitrogen fixation

converts inert, atmospheric molecular nitrogen (\(N_{2}\)) into biologically available forms like ammonia (\(NH_{3}\)) or ammonium (\(NH_{4}^{+}\)).

nitrification

preformed by bacteria, when ammonium ions are first converted into nitrite ions (NO2-) then into nitrate ions (NO3-)

phosphorus cycle

bottle neck

A catastrophic event kills off most of a population, leaving behind only a small, random group of survivors

watershed

the land that tunnels water to the bay through rivers

hypoxia

when phytoplankton die, they settle to the bay bottom, & are decomposed by bacteria, oxygen in water is depleted

biodiversity

variety of life across all levels of biological organization

extinction

when th whole of a species dies

extirpation

when a species is no longer found in an area but it is still found in the biosphere

food security

mass production of food

system

network of relationship among plants, elements, or components that interact w. and influence one another brought the exchange of energy, matter, or information.

nutrient

elements & compounds that organisms consume for survival

macro-nutrients

elements & compounds required in large amounts

Micro nutrients

nutrients needed in small amounts

ecological modeling

the practice of constructing and testing models that aim to explain and perdict how ecological systems function

nitrogen-fixing bacteria

these bacteria live in mutualist relationship with many type of plants, providing them with nutrients by converting nitrogen into a usable form

species diversity (species richness)

number or variety of species

species eveness

how close in # each species is in a environment (20 lynx, 20 moose)

species abundance

number of species in a certain area, or how common is a specific species in a area

background rate of extinction

each year on average, 1 species out of ever 1-10 million has vanished

expiration

the disappearance of a particular population from a given area, but not the entire species globally

mass extinction events

each even eliminated more than 1/5 of life’s families and at least half its species

genetic diversity

differences in DNA in every organism

Ecosystem diversity

number and variety of ecosystems

bio-philia

humans love nature and feel an emotional bond with other living things

captive breeding

individuals are bred and raised in controlled conditions with the intent of reintroducing them into the wild

denitrifying bacteria

they convert nitrates into soil or water to gaseous nitrogen via a multi step process, releasing nitrogen back into the atmosphere as a gas

Healthy ecosystems rely on

the cycling of energy and matter

The phosphorus in all biological tissues can traced back to

phosphorus weathered from rock

Nitrogen fixation is a process that makes nitrogen available to plants and is carried out by

mutualistic and free-living bacteria

Contrary to popular belief, the Endangered Species Act allows

landowners to harm a protected species in one area if they protect it in another