APES Ultimate Review

Ecosystem

interaction of living and nonliving things in a specific area.

Environment

entire natural world

Habitat

specific environmental conditions a species needs to survive

Symbiosis

any organisms that live within close proximity of each other(you have a tapeworm in you).

Mutualism

has to benefit both species(bees and plants).

Biome

region on earth that shares a yearly average temperature and precipitation pattern.

Acquatic Biomes

temperature, precipitation, salinity, flow, depth. Plants and animals that live there depend on salinity. Flow- disrupt surface(allows oxygen), and brings in sediments

Estuaries

where mouth of river enters into the ocean.

Law of conservation of matter

Matter is never created or destroyed

Carbon cycle

Sources return carbon to the atm. Sinks take it away from the atm. Amount of time carbon spends in different reservoirs varies significantly. Atmosphere is an important carbon reservoir. Amount of carbon in atmos determines earth’s global temperature. Photosynthesis-plants take away carbon and convert it into glucose, starch, or other plant tissues. Some plants(redwood tree) can become sinks. Cellular respiration returns carbon to the atmos. Organisms like plants or animals break down glucose and exhaling carbon. Exhales carbon that was only recently taken out and stored

Extraction and combustion returns carbon to the atmosphere that had been stored for millions of years.

Nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen cycles quickly through reservoirs, major reservoir is the atmos but is unusable for plants and animals.

Nitrogen fixation

converts biologically unavailable nitrogen gas(N2)into a usable form like ammonia(NH3) or nitrate(NO3). Bacteria breaks up strong triple bonds. Fossil fuel combustion can do this too(Makes nitrate).

Phosphorus cycle

Does not have a gas phase.Not in atmos, very slow.Major reservoir is rocks or sediments. Released through weathering

Hydrologic/water cycle

processs driven by energy from the sun. Infiltration-process of water seeping through the soil and recharging ground water reservoirs. Transpiration: water evaporating off of plants

Primary productivity

Rate of photosynthesis in a given area. Respiration loss- energy plants use up for cellular respiration. Gross PP: total amount of energy produced. NetPP- how much energy plants store after they’ve given up what they need to for cellular resp. NPP=gpp-rl

Second law of thermodynamics

as energy moves through trophic levels it will decrease,it is lost as heat.

Trophic cascades

top predators control herbivore populations, leading to larger primary producer populations.