Cumulative Test ESS

EVS

is a set of paradigms that shapes the perception of Environmental threats, How they may impact the environment, and their importance.

Factors that can affect EVS

Culture
Religion
Education
Experience
Family
and more...

Ecocentric

nature and ecology are at the center. They propose minimal disturbance of the natural processes to achieve sustainability.

Anthropocentric

People-centered approach in which people manage their environment and themselves with the help of independent regulatory authorities.

Technocentric

​Technology will keep pace with and provide solutions to all problems.

Open System

exchanges matter and energy with its surroundings (living organisms)

Transfer and Transformations

Transfer: move energy or matter from one place to the other in the same form
Transformation: move energy or matter but changes state or form

Closed system

exchanges energy but not matter with its surroundings (nitrogen and carbon cycle)

Isolated System

doesn't exchange

Matter and Energy

Energy flows, Mater cycles

Feedback

Part of the system's output re-enters the system as a new input.

Negative Feedback

tends to balance, neutralize, and promote an ecosystem

Positive Feedback

increases change and creates instability an ecosystems

Tipping points

part of a system that kick-starts self-perpetuating positive feedback loops that push the systems to a new state of equilibrium.

1st law of thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed. We transform existing energy to the energy. (Ex. in a food chain, light to chemical to heat energy)

2nd law of thermodynamics

Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe. (Entropy: the increase of randomness and disorder in an ecosystem)

3rd Law of thermodynamics

The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches zero.

Static Equilibrium

when the components of the system remain constant over a long period of time

Steady State Equilibrium

Many small changes over short periods of time

Resistance and Resilience

Resistance: when the ecosystem continues to function *during* the disturbance. Resilience: ability of the ecosystems to recover *after* disturbance

Natural Capital

Natural resources that produce sustainable natural income of good and services

Sustainability

The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained

Types of Pollution

organic or inorganic, persistent or biodegradable, acute or chronic, primary and secondary.

Sources of Pollution

point source (single identifiable) and non-point source (pollution from diffuse sources)

Model of pollution management

Educate, legislate, remediate

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

It is an organochloride insecticide that is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Highly effective in controlling malaria, but is a persistent pollutant.

• can cause cancer and damage the reproductive system

• not biodegradable.

• Bioaccumulates increases of concentration in organisms and biomagnifies and accumulates through the food chain.

Biotic and Abiotic

living (biotic) and nonliving components of an ecosystem (abiotic)

3 components of the ecosystem

Producers: plants that convert energy into matter
Consumers: animals that eat plants/animals
Decomposers: break down waste into reusable components
Decomposer Cycle

Niche

An organism's particular role in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living.

Carrying Capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

Population growth curves

A graphical representation of how a particular quantity increases over time. J-shaped and S-shaped curves

J-Shaped curves

Exponential growth under ideal conditions with plenty of resources and limited competition. Population continues to grow until enviromental resistance takes effect (could be organisms have used all the resources available).

Organisms which follow this graph generally show great fluctation and a boom and bust pattern in population numbers.

Photosynthesis

green plants are able to take light energy and use it to make chemical energy to gain biomass
inputs: carbon dioxide, water, light energy
Outputs: Oxygen, Glucose, chemical energy
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Respiration

is the oxidation of glucose to release energy that is then used in all activities in the organism.
Inputs: Oxygen, Glucose
Oxidation
Outputs: carbon dioxide, water, energy

Trophic levels

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NPP

the amount of usable biomass in an ecosystem

GPP

all the biomass produced by primary producers in a given time

Secondary Productivity

The production of organic matter by the consumers

NSP

calculated by substracting respiratory losses from GSP

Sustainable Yield

the amount of biomass that can be extracted without reducing natural capital of the ecosystem.

Matter Cycles

IMAGE

Carbon Cycle

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Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen in the atmosphere, nitrogen fixing-soil bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, and denitrifying bacteria

Types of interactions

Predation, herbivory, parasitism, mutualism, disease, competition

Interactions

regulate population size and impact the balance of the food web

S-shaped curves

• More likely when resources are limited (limiting factors). - Exponential growth is only possible for a short period of time

• More likely to be accurate until the population approaches carrying capacity.

Tri-cellular model

Hadley Cells (larger cell, greatest heating), Ferrel Cells (flow in the opposite direction) Polar Cells (smaller cells)

Biomes

is a collection of ecosystmes that are classified according to their predominant vegetation.

Five categories of Biomes

Aquatic: Freshwater, Marine
Forest: Tropical Rainforest
Grassland: Savanna
Desert
Tundra: Arctic

Nutrient cycle for Desert Biome

Soil is the largest store, then Biomass, then litter.

Nutrient Cycle for Temperate deciduous Forest Biome

Biomass is the largest store, then soil, then litter.

Nutrient Cycle Grassland Biome

Litter is the largest store, then biomass, then soil.

Zonation

is the change in a vegetation community along an environmental gradient (spatial and terminated by changes in the abiotic factors)

Sucession

is the predictable change in a vegetation community over time (starts with a pioneer community) a group of species whom all inhabit new land together.
Primary: occurs in areas that never have been occupied
Secondary: occurs in areas has been a natural or human-made disturbance

Sucession Stages

Colonization: initiated by pioneer and r-strategists species
Energy and nutrient cycling is limited. NPP is high, GPP is low.
Establishment: the 'ecosystem' starts to compose. Soil becomes deep enough for invertebrates.
Competition: The environment is less extreme and more sustainable—k-strategist start to dominate.
Climax Community: is in steady state equilibrium. NPP is low and GPP is high.

K-Strategist (K-selcted species)

• Produce very few offspring, but they increase their quality of them by investing in a lot of parental care.

• More survival rate To be able to do this the environment needs to be stable. In succession, stability increases with time so K-strategists are more common in the climax community.

R-strategist (r-selected species)

• Focus on the increased quantity of offspring

• With little or no parental care, survival chances are low

The ability to reproduce in large numbers of offspring quickly is beneficial in unstable, unpredictable environments. The early stages of succession are unstable, harsh environments thus r-selected species are common in the pioneer stages.

Why are Cilmax Communities stable?

Stability is related to the complexity of the system. More complex = more stable. Stability tends to give an ecosystem a higher level of resilience

3 main sampling techniques

Random, Systematic, Stratified sampling

Random sampling

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Systematic Sampling

select some starting point and then select every kth element in the population

Stratified sampling

researchers divide subjects into subgroups based on characteristics that they share

Stratified systematic sampling
Stratified random Sampling

Quadrat

is an appropriately shaped plot used to identify an area you wish to study

Transects

Line transects: a line place according to a sampling strategy and then the vegetation that touches the line can be recorded
Belt transects: A belt of sampling

Testing Abiotic Factors

Turbidity, flow velocity, wind speed, slope angle, and soil

Testing Turbidity

To measure the transparency of a water body. Measured using a Secchi Disk which enters the water until is no longer visible.

Testing flow velocity

The speed at which a river flows. Measured using a flow meter, and simple flow. Which you put it on the water and the speed at which it rotates tells you the speed of the river.

Testing wind speed

Measured using an anemometer.

Testing Slope angle

Measured using a clinometer.

Capturing motile organisms

Traps, Nets, Pitfall Traps, Aerial Photography, Kick-sampling, Sweep Nets.

Lincoln Index

an indirect method by which the size of an animal population can be estimated. capture/mark/release/release/recapture

Assumptions:

• the proportion of marked animals in the second sample is the same as the proportion of marked animals in unmarked animals

• Enough time has elapsed to allow full mixing of marked and unmarked animals

• The population is closed and that there is no immigration

Enviromental gradient

the gradual change in the biotic factors through space.