apes unit 1

i was hoping the first one would be chem but wtv

Values that Affect Environmental Decision Making

aesthetic, economic, environmental, educational, ethical/moral, health, recreational, scientific, social/cultural

what is the apes decision making model?

gather info, consider values, explore consequences, and make a decision

An ____ is a community of living organisms interacting with their nonliving environment

ecosystem

the natural home/environment of a plant, animal or organism

habitat

the role the species plays (including food it eats, where it lives, where it reproduces, and relationships w other species). every animal has one in the community

niche

trophic pyraminds

organizes life into diff levels based on what it eats

how much energy is passed up each tropic level + why are there less organisms higher up

only 10% is passed up, so less animals can be supported - all the other 90% is lost to heat/metabolic processes

Detritivore

Eats detritus, “trash,” dead organisms, *example: catfish*

Decomposer

Breaks down dead things, *example: fungus*

Scavenger

Eats dead organisms, *example: vulture*

Species interactions (6 types)

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1. Interspecific competition
2. Intraspecific competition
3. Predation
4. Parasitism
5. Mutualism
6. Commensalism

2 types of interactions

abiotic + biotic

Competition

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* Most common interaction
* Occurs any time there is shared use of a limited resource
* Negative – Negative interaction

Mitigating Competition

Given enough time, natural selection will mitigate the negative impacts of competition

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* **Resource Partitioning:**

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* **Different species, that compete for similar limited resources, evolve traits that allow them to share that resource.**
* **Could mean using the resource at different times or in different ways**

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* **Ecological Niche**

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* **The role a species plays in an ecosystem**
* **Includes all physical, biological, and chemical conditions a species lives and reproduces under**

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Predation

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* When the member of one species feed directly on a member of another species.
* **Herbivory: predation, just with plants**
* Positive – Negative interaction

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* Predator – prey relationship:

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* Impact on population sizes
* Impact on evolution and natural selection

Symbiosis

**a close relationship between two species**

Mutualism

**Both species benefit (positive – positive)**

Parasitism

**One species benefits, the other is harmed (positive – negative)**

Commensalism

**One species benefits, the other is not impacted (positive – neutral)**

The ____ is the source of MOST energy on Earth’s surface

sun

Life can be organized in different ways to demonstrate how _____

energy flows through an ecosystem

what is primary productivity

The rate at which solar energy is converted into organic compounds through photosynthesis over a unit of time. or simplified - The amount of plant matter growing in a given area

what is gross primary productivity

“The TOTAL rate of photosynthesis in a given area.”

what is net primary productivity

The amount of energy stored in primary producers AFTER subtracting the energy lost to respiration

food chain

the relationship of how energy is transferred up the trophic levels

food web

a visual map of feeding relationships and energy flow

* Includes many different organisms at all the various levels


* Greatly simplified; leaves out the majority of species

what are the four key macronutrients

carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water - necessary for life

importance of The Nutrient Cycles

The availability and rate of flow of these nutrients helps to predict how productive an area is and how much life it can support

source

Something that gives off a particular nutrient

Sink

Something that accumulated a particular nutrient

Reservoir

Something that contains a particular nutrient

the carbon cycle mostly shifts between

photosynthesis and aerobic respiration

what role does carbon dioxide play in the carbon cycle?

* CO2 makes up 0.04% of the composition of the atmosphere
* More CO2 = Warmer Temperatures
* Less CO2  = cooler temperatures

what are marine sediments and fossil fuels (in relation to the carbon cycle)

they are mostly carbonates = a significant reservoir of carbon

what is the largest reservoir of nitrogen

atmospheric nitrogen

why is phosphorus a significant limiting factor

* most solids have little phosphorus
* there is no atmospheric phosphorus
* the main reservoir is rock and sediment

how is phosphorus added to a system

by being weathered out of bedrock

hydrological cycle (aka water cycle) is powered by __ and is the primary reservoir of _

sun, water (the ice caps and glaciers are the second largest reservoir of water on earth)

productivity and the abundance of life is dictated by

key macronutrients

the carbon cycle centers around

photosynthesis and aerobic respiration

the nitrogen cycle requires microbes to

turn atmospheric nitrogen into usable compounds

the phosphorous cycle moves the (slowest/fastest) and its compounds are in the (smallest/largest) amounts making it a __

slowest, smallest, limiting factor

(t/f) the hydrological cycle helps drive most of the other cycles

TURE!!!

what is the carbon cycle

the movement of atoms and molecules containing carbon between sources and sinks

producers convert carbon dioxide into ___ during photosynthesis

carbohydrates

consumers gain carbon from the

carbohydrates in the producers they consume

how is carbon released into the atmosphere during cellular respiration

released as carbon dioxide

where is a massive store of carbon that is not in the atmosphere?

plant and animal decomposition

how does burning fossil fuels affect the carbon cycle

it adds to the atmospheric carbon - this cycles through (before it was stored, so it didn’t cycle through)

where does most of the carbon dioxide in the air go?

it gets dissolved into the ocean or is used up by plants in photosynthesis

what is the seasonal change in carbon dioxide amounts?

summer- growing plants photosynthesize more so there is less carbon in the atmosphere

winter- plants are decaying so that dead matter releasing more carbon as well as overall less plants are photosynthesizing so carbon levels rise

what is the greenhouse gas we are releasing the most?

carbon dioxide (shocker)

define global warming

gradual increase in the average global temperature. Because the rise in temperature correlates to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, most scientists conclude that the increase in greenhouse gases, and other factors, have caused the increase in temperature. (maybe i will clean up this definition)

what is the nitrogen cycle!

movement of atoms and molecules containing nitrogen between sources and sinks

what is the major reservoir of nitrogen

the atmosphere! but they don’t hold it for very long and it moves around quickly

where does the majority of the nitrogen cycle take place

the soil

define nitrogen fixation

bacteria takes nitrogen from the air and changes it into a usable form

* nitrogen is turned into ammonia (form of nitrogen) that is available for uptake by plants and can be synthesized into plant tissue

decomposition

decaying matter returns nitrogen to the soil

what are some human impacts on the nitrogen cycle

mining, municipal sewage, haber-bosch process, dead zones, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide

what is the phosphorous cycle

movement of atoms and molecules containing phosphorous between sources and sinks (why did she give the same definition for each and just switch out the element)

major reservoirs of phosphorous

rock and sediments containing phosphorous-bearing minerals

what is the importance of phosphorous

its part of many molecules that make up the cells of living organisms

* plants get it from soil and water
* animals get it from consuming plants
* it cycles between the environment and organisms

how is phosphorous absorbed

enters soil and water when rocks erode (dissolves into phosphate)

\-plants absorb through their roots

\-some washes off and ends up in water bodies

\-not all phosphate salts are soluble so they sink to the bottom of bodies of water and turn into sediment

fertilizers in nitrogen and phosphorous cycles

fertilizers contain both n and p

\-excess fertilizer can be picked up in runoff and go to bodies of water causing rapid growth of algae and eventually dead zones (oxygen depletion)

what is wrong with N2

it is unusable for most life forms (so nitrogen must be turned into other compounds to be used)

what forms of nitrogen are usuable

ammonia (nh3), ammonium ions (NH4+) and nitrates (NO3-)