AP Environmental Science Chapter 3

Biosphere

The region of our planet where life resides, the combination of all ecosystems on Earth.

Photosynthesis EQ

Solar energy + 6H2O + 6CO2 - C6H12O6 + 6O2

Respiration EQ

C6H12O6 + 6O2 - 6H20 + 6 CO2

Producer

An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy. They are also known as Autotrophs.

Autotrophs

An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy. They are also known as Producers.

Photosynthesis

The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose.

Cellular Respiration

The process by which cells unlock the energy of chemical compounds.

Aerobic Respiration

The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide and water.

Anaerobic Respiration

The process by which cells convert glucose into energy in the absence of oxygen.

Net Primary Productivity=

gross primary productivity - respiration by producers

CO2 Taken up during photosynthesis=

CO2 taken up in sunlight + CO2 produced in the dark

Consumer/Heterotroph

An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain its energy by consuming other organisms. Also known as heterotrophs.

Herbivore

A consumer that eats producers. Also known as Primary consumer.

Carnivore

A consumer that eats other consumers.

Secondary Consumer

A carnivore that eats primary consumers

Tertiary Consumer

A carnivore that eats secondary consumers.

Trophic Levels

The successive levels of organisms consuming one another.

Food chain

The sequence of consumption from producers to tertiary consumers.

Food Web

A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels.

Scavenger

An organism that consumes dead animals.

Detritivore

An organism that specializes in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles.

Decomposers

Fungi and bacteria that convert organic matter into small elements and molecules that can be recycled back into the ecosystem.

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

The total amount of solar energy that producers in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time.

Net Primary Productivity (GPP)

The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy produced to respire.

Biomass

The total mass of all living matter in a specific area.

Standing Crop

The amount of Biomass present in an ecosystem. Measures the amount of energy in a system at a given time.

Ecological Efficiency

The proportion of consumes energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another.

Trophic Pyramid

A representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels.