APES Unit 3 and 4

conservation biology

aims to use scientific research and emergency responses to slow down or stop the rate humans destroy or degrade earth's biodiversity (ecosystem vs species approach)

causes of ecosystem (habitat) loss

1. timber/logging
2. paper industry
3. plantation agriculture
- oil palm, rubber, commercial ag, etc.
4. development/ urbanization
5. degradation
- increased fire, pollution, overhunting (including loss of keystone species), etc.

biotic

relating to or resulting from living things, especially in their ecological relations.

Abiotic

physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.

atmosphere

the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.

Biosphere

Consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere.

Lithosphere

the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

Hydrosphere

all the waters on the earth's surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth's surface, such as clouds.

Autotroph

an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.
- plants, algae, cyanobacteria, phytoplankton

Aerobic

Process that requires oxygen

Anaerobic

Process that does not require oxygen
- ex: fermentation

first law of thermodynamics

Energy can be transferred and transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed.

second law of thermodynamics

when energy is changed from one form to another, some useful energy is always degraded into lower quality energy (usually heat)

net primary productivity

The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire

gross primary productivity

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

open system

A system in which matter can enter from or escape to the surroundings.

closed system

A system in which no matter is allowed to enter or leave

hydrothermal vents

spots on the ocean floor where hot gases and minerals escape from earth's interior into the water

Chemosynthesis

process by which ATP is synthesized by using chemicals as an energy source instead of light

cellular respiration

Process that releases energy by breaking down glucose and other food molecules in the presence of oxygen

Saprotrophs

an organism that feeds on or derives nourishment from decaying organic matter.

Detritrivores

Organisms that help saprophytes do their job. They feed on pieces of dead and decaying material and finely break it up increasing its surface area.

ecological pyramid

diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in a food chain or food web

pyramid of numbers

representation of the number of individual organisms in each trophic level of an ecosystem

pyramid of biomass

Shows the total amount of living material available at each trophic level/ The area at the bottom corresponds to the producer level. It represents the greatest amount of living material.

pyramid of energy

A pyramid that shows the total amount of energy available at each trophic level.
- energy loss of 90% with each step up

Biomass

the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume.

heterotrophs

An organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or their by-products.

primary consumers (herbivores)

eat producers

secondary consumers (carnivores)

obtain their energy by eating primary consumers

tertiary consumers

eat secondary consumers

Omnivore

An animal that eats both plants and animals

species

resemble one another appearance, behavior, chemical and genetic makeup

populations

same species living in the same area at the same time

community

group of organisms that live in the same area at the same time

ecosystem

a community and its physical environment

Crust

made up of silicon and oxygen and water

asthenosphere

molten plastic allows for plate movement

thermodynamics

study of energy and its transformations

efficiency

amount of useful work produced per total unit energy - no process requiring energy is 100% efficient

krill

eat algae, are eaten by baleen whales, squid and fish

whaling

before banned in 1986, more krill was available to other animals, increased populations

Biodiversity

variation among organisms

species richness

variability (number of species and their distribution) within an ecosystem

genetic diversity

variety of genetic material within a species or population

species diversity

the number of species present in different habitats

ecological diversity

the variety of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems found in an area or on the earth

functional diversity

the biological and chemical processes such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species, communities, and ecosystems

ecosystem services

important environmental benefits that ecosystems provide to people

reservoirs

storage, also called sources or sinks

human impacts of the water cycle

- withdrawal of large quantities of fresh water from streams, lakes, and underground sources
- clear vegetation from land for agriculture, mining, construction, and urbanization
- adding nutrients and other pollutants (degrades water quality)
- build artificial reservoirs (dams) which can affect fish migration and nutrient movement

consequences of human impacts on the water cycle

- increasing runoff, reduces infiltration that recharges groundwater, increasing flooding risk and accelerates soil erosion
- speeding up/changing the water cycle as a result of warmer climate, changing global precipitation patterns
- increase in hypoxic zones
- urbanization can lead to an increase in saltwater intrusion, contaminating groundwater supplies

ways carbon can get into the atmosphere

- cellular respiration
- burning fossil fuels
- combustion of wood
- diffusion from ocean
- decomposition of organic matter
- erosion of rocks
- volcanic eruptions

ways carbon can be removed from the atmosphere

- diffusion into water
- photosynthesis by plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and phytoplankton

importance of calcium carbonate in the atmosphere

- calcium carbonate is made from ocean organisms from dissolved CO2 to build their shells and skeletons
- it removes CO2 from ocean, and as these organisms die, their skeletons and shell will fall to the bottom of the ocean where over time they will become rocks or fossil fuels

human impacts to the carbon cycle

- clear trees and plants that absorb CO2 faster than they can grow back (for agriculture and urbanization)
- adding large amounts of CO2 by burning fossil fuels
- agricultural practices such as raising livestock and growing rice paddies
- climate change has increased ocean temperatures killing coral and other ocean species that use carbon

consequences of human impacts on carbon cycle

- climate change increase
- precipitation pattern change
- ocean acidification
- habitat destruction / deforestation
- increasing soil erosion / loss of agricultural land

how nitrogen leaves the atmosphere

- oxidized by lightning to form nitrites
- nitrogen fixation to form ammonia/ammonium

living organisms that influence the nitrogen cycle the most

- nitrifying and nitrogen fixing bacteria
- every step in the nitrogen cycle involves bacteria, therefore it is a very slow process
- nitrogen can be a limiting factor in plant growth

human impacts on nitrogen cycle

- adding large amounts of NOx to atmosphere when we burn fossil fuel
- releasing large amounts of nitrogen from soil to atmosphere by slash and burn agriculture
- adding excess nitrates from agricultural runoff into lakes, rivers, oceans
- removing nitrogen from topsoil we harvest nitrogen rich crops
- adding large amounts of nitrates as inorganic fertilizers (nitrates runoff into waterways leading to algal blooms and eutrophication)

consequences of human impacts on the nitrogen cycle

- acid deposition
- climate change
- photochemical smog
- deforestation / increasing soil erosion
- loss of soil nutrients
- increase in hypoxic zones in water
- loss of biodiversity

phosphorous as a limiting factor

- on land: most soils contain little phosphate unless phosphorous is applied to ground in soil
- in water: phosphate salts are only slightly soluble in water so not much is available to aquatic plants

human impacts of phosphorous cycle

- mining of large quantities of phosphate rock to make commercial inorganic fertilizers (increases phosphorous, can lead to runoff and eutrophication)
- reducing the available phosphate in soils due to agricultural (overplanting) or forestry practices
- we disrupt aquatic systems with phosphate from runoff of animal wastes and fertilizers and discharges from sewage treatment systems

consequences of human impacts on phosphorous cycle

- acid mine drainage / tailings/ habitat destruction
- loss of nutrient reduces overall plant growth
- increase in hypoxic zones

evolution

cumulative genetic changes that occur over time in a population of organisms
explains patterns and distributions of abundance displayed in the natural world

Adaptation

evolutionary modification of an individual that improves that individual's chances of survival and reproductive success in its environment

natural selection

better-adapted individuals - those with a combination of genetic traits better suited to environmental conditions - are more likely to survive and reproduce, increasing their proportion in the population
- high reproductive capacity, inheritable variation, limits on population growth struggle for existence, differential reproductive success

mutation

changes in the nucleotide base sequence of a gene, new genetic material, few beneficial

population ecology

numbers of a particular species in an area and how or why those numbers change over time

population density

number of individuals of a species per unit or area or volume at a given time

intrinsic rate of increase

(biotic potential) maximum rate at which a population could increase under ideal conditions

exponential population growth

j curve, accelerating population growth that occurs when optimal conditions allow a constant reproductive rate over a period of time

environmental resistance

organisms cannot reproduce indefinitely, environment sets limit, limited availability of food, water, shelter, and etc creates competition

carrying capacity

limit of the environment's ability to support a population

population crash

abrupt decline from high to low population density

boom or bust

cyclic fluctuation in abundance

density-dependent factor

environmental factor whose effects on a population change as population density changes
- ex: predation, disease, competition

density-independent factor

affects the size of a population but is not influenced by changes in population density
- ex: natural disasters- freeze, blizzard, hurricane, fire

r-selected species

have traits that contribute to a high population growth rate, high mortality rate
- ex: rats, roaches

k-selected species

traits maximize the chance of surviving in an environment where the number of individuals is near the carrying capacity
does not produce large amounts of offspring
- ex: gorillas, elephants, whales

Survivorship

the probability a given individual in a population will survive to a particular age

survivorship curve

- type I: late loss: humans, pandas, elephants
- type 2: constant loss: birds, lizards
- type 3: early loss: insects, trees, rodents, fish

ecological niche

"way of life" or functional role in an ecosystem

functional niche

full potential

realized niche

Part of a species fundamental niche that it actually uses, limited by competition.

competition

interaction between organisms, populations, or species, in which birth, growth and death depend on gaining a share of a limited environmental resource.

intraspecific competition

competition between members of the same species

interspecific competition

competition between members of different species

competitive exclusion

no two species can occupy the same niche at the same time- eventually one species will be excluded due to interspecific competition because of limited supply

resource partitioning

The division of environmental resources by coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all coexisting species

ecological tolerance

the range of abiotic conditions in which a species can survive
- ex: temperature, sunlight, humidity, precipitation

indicator species

an organism whose presence, absence or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition

Symbiosis

relationship or association between members of two or more species; includes mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism

Coevolution

the change of a biological object triggered by the change of a related object
result of symbiosis

Mutualism

symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship

Zooxanthellae

algae that live inside coral animals and have a mutualistic relationship with them

mycorrhizae

A mutualistic association of plant roots and fungus

Commensalism

type of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped

Epiphytes

live attached to trees

Parasitism

one benefits, one is harmed