Adaptations and habitats

Define habitat

Place where an organism lives

Characteristics of a habitat

-The physical conditions of environment

-Type of ecosystem

-Where within the ecosystem

Define adaptation

Traits that allow an organism to survive better in a particular environment

How can natural selection lead to adaptations of organisms to the abiotic environment of their habitat?

Adaptations don’t arise cause of the environment

-organisms who have/get particular traits that happen to be advantageous are more likely to survive reproduce, and pass on those traits

Abiotic factors that affect plant species distribution

-Temperature

-Water availability

-Light intensity

-Soil pH

-Soil salinity

-Avaliblity of mineral nutrients

Abiotic factors that affects animal species distribution

-Temperature

-Water availability

Define range of tolerance

Refers to range of an abiotic factor in which an organism can survive

What are methods for ethically determining the range of tolerance of a species?

Transect sampling

-Belt transect

-Observation transect

-Line intercepting sampling

Define ecosystem

A community interacting with the abiotic factors of the environment

What is an open system?

Chemical substances and energy can both exit and leave the ecosystem

What is a closed system?

Only energy can exit or enter. Chemical substances can’t enter or exit

Are most ecosystems open or closed?

They are mostly open. Closed ones are man made

What is exchanged between a sealed mesocosm and the surrounding external environment?

Energy

What is the primary source for most ecosystems?

Sunlight

What is another main source of energy that is not sunlight?

-Chemosynthesis uses energy released from chemical substances/releases

-Turns inorganic to organic

Define food chain

shows the flow of energy and nutrients from one organism to another

What is indicated by the arrows in a food chain?

The flow of energy and nutrients from one organism to another

Why are food webs better representations of trophic relationships in an ecological community than a food chain?

they show the many interconnected feeding relationships in a community, not just a single path of energy flow

What are producers in food webs/chains?

-plants and algae

-make their own food through photosynthesis and form the base of the food chains/webs

What are decomposers in food chains/webs?

-Decomposers- Fungi or bacteria

-Saprotrophs break down matter, while detritivores (insects) consume and fragment it

-Break down dead organisms and waste, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem

What are primary consumers in food webs/chains?

Herbivores (don’t eat meat) that eat producers for energy

What are secondary consumers in food webs/chains?

eat the primary consumers

What are tertiary consumers in food webs/chains?

predators that eat secondary consumers often at the top of the of chain

What are saprotrophs?

Break down dead or decaying matter by secreting enzymes and absorbing the released nutrients

List decomposers including detritivores and saprotroph

Decomposers: Fungi, bacteria, mold, mushrooms

Detritivores: Earth worms, millipedes, woodlice, dung beetles

Saprotrophs chemically break down matter, detritivores consume and fragment matter

Define autotroph

Organisms that make its own food from inorganic sources (Sunlight or chemicals)

-Form the base of food chains/webs

Define carbon fixation

Process of converting inorganic carbon into organic compounds like glucose during photosynthesis or chemosynthesis

Why do autotrophs “Fix” carbon?

If carbon exists in the atmosphere as inorganic carbon, autotrophs can’t use it directly for energy or building molecules

what are two primary uses of energy in autotrophs?

- building new cells and tissues

- powering cellular processes and sustaining life functions

How are the energy sources different in chemoautotrophs and photoautotrophs?

Photoautotrophs- use light energy from the sun to make food through photosynthesis

Chemoautotrophs- use chemical energy from inorganic molecules to make food through chemosynthesis

What are examples of photoautotrophs?

-Plants (oak, trees, grass_

-Algae (seaweed, phytoplankton)

-Cyanobacteria

What are examples of chemoautotroph?

-Nitrosomonas (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria)

-Sulfolobus (sulfur-oxidizing archea)

-Hydrogen bacteria (oxidized hygoren gas)

How does oxidation reactions serve as a source of energy in iron-oxidizing bacteria?

- oxide ferrous iron to ferric iron

-This chemical reaction releases energy, which bacteria uses to fix carbon and carry out cellular processes

Define heterotroph

-Organism that can’t make its own food and must get energy and nutrients by eating other organisms

-Plants, animals, or organic matter

Outline the functions of digestion, assimilation and synthesis of carbon compounds in heterotrophs?

-Digestion: Breaks down complex food (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) into simpler forms that can be absorbed

-Assimilation: Absorbs digested nutrients into cells and tissues to be used for energy, growth, and repair

-Synthesis of carbon commands: using already absorbed nutrients to build new organic molecules (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids) needed for the organisms structure and function

Define trophic level

The position an organism occupies in a food chain/web, based on what they eat and what eats it

What are the trophic levels in food chains/webs?

-Producers: 1st trophic level

-Primary: 2nd tropic level

-Secondary: 3rd trophic level

-Tertiary: 4th tropic level

-Decomposers and detritivores interact with all levels

How can an organism occupy more than one trophic level in an ecosystem?

-Depending on it’s diet they can because trophic levels are based on what an organism eats, not their species

-Ex: Omnivores like bears eat both plans and animals

What is the energy from ATP used to do?

ATP= Form of energy that cells use

-synthesize larger molecules (DNA/protein)

-active transport

-moving structures

-mainting constant body temperature

Where does the energy from ATP come from?

-carbon compounds such as glucose

-energy from carbon compounds come from sun

What sorts of organisms undergo cellular respiration?

Both heterotrophs and autotrophs

What is the unit used for communicating the energy in each trophic level of a food chain?

-amount of energy per unit area and per year

-KJ/M²/yr

Describe the shape of a pyramid of energy

Not a triangle, a series of rectangles that represent different trophic levels

What are three reasons why the amount of energy decreases at higher trophic levels

-Incomplete consumption: when only parts of plants or animal are consumed

-Incomplete digestion: not all parts are broken down

-Cell respiration: energy is lost as heat during chemical reactions

What is the average amount of energy passed through each trophic level in a food chain?

Only 10% of the energy at one trophic level is passes on to the next

Two causes of the decrease of biomass along food chains in terrestrial ecosystems?

-Energy lost as heat through respiration

-energy lost in waste and uneaten material

What are the reasons why heat created by living organisms is eventually lost from the ecosystem?

-Energy transfer isn’t 100% efficient

-Heat cannot be recycled

-Heat disperses into the environment

How does the number of organisms change with each successive topic level? How does the amount of biomass change with each successive trophic level?

Biomass always decreases as we go up trophic levels

Why is there a limited number of trophic levels in an ecosystem?

So much energy is lost at each step in the chain so there isn’t enough

Can chemical elements be recycled? What about energy?

-Chemical elements can be recycled but energy can’t

-Chemical elements = Carbon, nitrogen, water cycled through biochemical cycles

What are the elements required by living organisms that must be recycled through ecosystems?

-Carbon

-Oxygen

-Hydrogen

-Nitrogen

-Phosphorus

-Sulfur

-Calcium

What is the generalized flow of nutrients between abiotic, autotrophic, and heterotrophic components of an ecosystem?

-Abiotic → autotrophs: Nutrients absorbed from soil, air, or water

-Autotroph → heterotrophs: Nutrients passed through feeding

-Heterotrophs → Abiotic: Decomposers recycle nutrients back to the environment

What is the role of decomposers in nutrient cycles?

Break down dead organisms and waste, releasing nutrients back into the abiotic environment for reuse

What is a sink, pool, and flux as related to carbon cycle?

-Sink: A place where carbon is stored (forests, oceans)

-Pool: Amount of carbon in a sink at given times

-Flux: Movement between carbon sinks (photosynthesis, respiration)

How are the transfers of energy and inorganic nutrients in ecosystems different?

-Energy: Flows one way and is later lost as heat not recycled can’t be reused

-Nutrients: Cycle repeatedly between abiotic and biotic components can be reused

What are the conditions that show an ecosystem is a carbon sink?

When it absorbed more carbon through photosynthesis and storage in biomass or soil then it releases through respiration, decay, combustion

-

What are the conditions that show an ecosystem is a carbon source?

Releases more carbon through respiration , decay, or combustion than it absorbed from the atmosphere

What is sequestration in relation to a carbon sink?

Long-term storage of carbon in an ecosystem, trees, soil, or oceans, preventing its release into the atmosphere

What is biomass?

Total mass of living organisms in a given area or ecosystem, usually measured as (dry weight per unit area)

What is gross and net primary production?

Gross production: Total amount of energy captured by producers through photosynthesis

Net primary production: Energy remaining after producers use some for respiration; available to consumers

What is secondary production?

Generation of the new biomass by consumers as they cover the energy and organic matter from food into growth and production

Why is secondary production lower than primary production in an ecosystem?

Most energy from primary production is lost as heat, water, or used in respiration by consumers, leaving less energy for growth and reproduction