Unit 2: Environmental Systems, Energy, and Life Processes

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering environmental systems, energy principles, ecosystem dynamics, trophic levels, and biogeochemical cycles based on Unit 2 lecture notes.

Hypoxia

A condition of lacking oxygen (below $2\,\text{ppm}$), which eliminates nearly all aquatic life except microorganisms and primitive worms.

System

A network of interdependent things with energy flowing from one to another.

Ecosystem

A biological community of organisms and their physical environment.

Compartments (State Variables)

Components within a system that store resources such as energy, matter, or water.

Flow

The path resources take as they move from one compartment to another.

Open System

A system where energy and nutrients can enter, leave, and interact with surroundings.

Closed System

A system with no exchange of energy or matter with its surroundings.

Throughput

The total energy and matter flowing into and out of a system.

Positive Feedback Loop

A process that increases or accentuates a system component or process.

Negative Feedback Loop

A process that diminishes or suppresses a system component or process.

Matter

Anything that takes up space and has mass.

Conservation of Matter

Matter is not created or destroyed, but recycled or reduced.

Acids

Substances that release hydrogen ions ($H^+$) in water.

Bases

Substances that bond with hydrogen ions ($H^+$) and yield hydroxide ions ($OH^-$) in water.

pH Scale

A $0$ to $14$ scale measuring acidity and alkalinity, where $14$ is most basic.

Energy

The ability to do work or produce heat.

Kinetic Energy

Energy contained in moving objects.

Potential Energy

Stored energy available for use.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

With each energy transfer, less energy is available to do work.

Primary Producers (Autotrophs)

Organisms like green plants that make their own food using sunlight, air, and water.

Chemosynthesis

Extracting energy from inorganic chemical compounds.

Photosynthesis

An endothermic process ($6H_2O + 6CO_2 \rightarrow C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2$) using sunlight to make glucose and oxygen.

Cellular Respiration

The biological process that is the chemical opposite of photosynthesis.

Species

Organisms genetically similar enough to reproduce.

Population

Members of the same species living together in a given area at the same time.

Community

All populations of different species interacting in a particular place.

Primary Consumers (Heterotrophs)

Organisms that obtain energy by consuming primary producers.

Herbivores

Organisms that eat exclusively plants.

Carnivores

Organisms that eat exclusively meat.

Omnivores

Organisms that eat both plants and meat.

Trophic Level

An organism's feeding status within an ecosystem.

Scavengers

Animals that clean up dead carcasses of larger animals.

Detritivores

Organisms that consume litter, debris, and dung.

Decomposers

Fungi and bacteria that break down organic matter.

10% Energy Transfer Rule

Only about $10\%$ of energy is represented in the next higher trophic level.

Hydrologic Cycle

Water cycle where evaporated ocean water is globally distributed by wind.

Carbon Cycle

Cycle beginning with photosynthetic organisms taking up $CO_2$ via carbon fixation.

Nitrogen Cycle

Cycle where plants absorb nitrates via root bacteria to build proteins, reentering the environment upon death.

Phosphorus Cycle

Slow cycle releasing mineral phosphates from rocks; excess in water triggers algae blooms.

Sulfur Cycle

Cycle releasing sulfur via weathering, volcanoes, vents, and fossil fuels, contributing to acid precipitation.

lee river

in china

buriganga river

in Bangladesh, flows through Dhaka, tanries

Ganges rivers

india, holy site for Hinduism and polluted from tanries

Citarum River

in Indonesia, one of the most polluted

Zambezi river

in africa leds to victoria falls

Thames river

in london, model example of what change can look like

Jeans and italians

used shellfish, steam to electrity machine (water reclimation), and chitsan to fix the dye

Jeanologia (spain)

used laser for distressed jean look, and o zone machine to wash jeans instead of stone wash