APES CH1 - Princeton Review

Abiotic

Nonliving

Biotic

Living

Reservoir

A place where a large quantity of nutrient sits for a long period of time (the ocean)

Exchange pool

A site where a nutrient sits for only a short period of time (a cloud)

Residency time

The amount of time a nutrient spends in a reservoir/exchange pool

2 major sources of natural energy on Earth

The Sun & heat energy from the mantle (core) of the Earth

Transpiration

Plants releasing water to the atmosphere

Condensation

Gas to liquid

Sources of carbon

• Ocean - CO2 is soluble in water

• Rocks - calcium carbonate

• Fossil fuels

Photosynthesis

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Respiration

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O

Decomposing

Dead bodies are decomposed, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere

Combustion

The burning of fossil fuels, releaasing Carbon

Volcanic action releases…

Carbon

Nitrogen Fixation (1)

• Must be in the form of ammonia or nitrates

• Can be “fixed” through lightening storms or soil bacteria associated with the roots of legumes (beans/clover)

Nitrification (2)

• Performed by soil bacteria

• Ammonia/ammonium to nitrites to a form that can be used by plants — nitrate

Assimilation (3)

• Plants absorb ammonium, ammonia ions, and nitrate ions through their roots

• Heterotrophs consume nitrogen through plants’ proteins & nucleic acids

Ammonification (4)

• Decomposing bacteria turn dead stuff to ammonia/ammonium ions

• Plants reuse that stuff

Denitrification (5)

• Bacteria (anaerobic) turn ammonia to nitrites/nitrates and then to nitrogen gas and nitrous oxide gas, which rise to the atmosphere

Where phosphorus is found & how its released

Rock, soil, sediments & chemical weathering, leaching, mining

Mycorrhizae

• A fungi that forms a symbiotic relationship with plants

• Colonizes plant roots, allowing it to take in more nutrients and water

• Plant provides carbs

Phosphorus impact on humans

Mined b/c it is a limiting factor

Eutrophication

When a body of water receives excess nutrients, causing an overgrowth of algae and depletion of oxygen

How plants absorb sulfur / how animals obtain sulfut

When it is dissolved in water, through roots / by eating plants

Where sulfur is found

Rocks, salts, deep in ocean sediments, atmosphere, volcation eruptions, bacterial functions, decomposition in estuaries, decay

Human activity & sulfur

Sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide released through industrial processes

Ecotones

Transitional area where two biomes meet e/o

Ecozones (ecoregions)

Smaller regions within ecosystems that share similar physical features

Law of Tolerance

The degree to which organisms can tolerate changes in their environment

• The basis for natural selection & evolution

Law of the Minimum

Organisms will keep living, consuming available materials until the supply of these materials is exhausted

Autotrophs / producers

• Produce their own organic compounds (food) from inorganic compounds

• Turn chemical energy to carbs through photosynthesis

Heterotrophs

Get food by consuming other organisms/products produced by other organisms

Chemotrophs

Bacteria, which make food from inorganic chemicals in anaerobic environments through chemosynthesis

• Found in hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean

Net Primary Productivity Formula

Gross Primary Productivity - Energy Loss

• Has to do with plants!

NPP

The amount of energy that plants pass on to the community of herbivores in an ecosystem

Detritivores

Consume nonliving organic matter (dead animals/fallen leaves)

Decomposers

Consume dead plant/animal material, returning nutrients to the environment

Saprotrophs

Decomposers that use enzymes to break down dead organisms & absorb the nutrients (bacteria/fungi)

10% rule

Only 10% of the energy from one trophic level is passed to the one above. Most of it is lost as heat

Producers have the most…

Energy

Biomagnification

The increasing concentration of toxic molecules at successively higher trophic levels

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of a substance in the tissues of a living organism

Phylogenetic tree

A figure used to model evolution

Speciation

The forming of new species

Species

A group of organisms that can breed with e/o

Gene pool

The total genetic makeup of a population

Genetic drift

The changed frequency of an allele due to random chance

Bottleneck effect

A reduction in the genetic diversity caused by a reduction in its size

Microevolution

Small-scale changes over a relatively short period of time

Macroevolution

Large-scale patterns of evolution over a long period of time

Biological extinction

Total extinction

Ecological extinction

When there are so few individuals of a species left that it can no longer perform it's ecological function (alligators in the Everglades 1960; wolves in Yellowstone before re-introduction)

Commercial/economic extinction

When so few individuals exist but the effort needed to locate/harvest them isn’t worth the expense (the groundfish population of the Grand Banks, Canada)

Intraspecific competition

Competition between the same species

Interspecific competition

Competition between different species

Gause’s principle

Competitive exclusion: two species can’t occupy the same niche at the same time; one will out-compete the other

Realized niche

The smaller niche an organism lives in due to competition

Fundamental niche

The niche an organism would live in if there were no competition

Resource partitioning

When different species use different parts of a resource

• The leaves, trunk, or sticks of a tree

Mutualism

+/+

Commensalism

+/0

Parasitism

+/-

Keystone species

A species whose very presence contributes to an ecosystems diversity & whose extinction would lead to the extinction of other forms of life

• Wolves in Yellowstone

Indicator species

Species that serve as standards to evaluate the health of an ecosystem. Often sensitive to biological changes

• Trout

Examples of invasive species

• Vine kudzu, southeastern USA

• Zebra mussels, Great Lakes

Primary succession

Occurs in a lifeless area

• When a glacier retreats / when lava forms new rock / a parking lot

Secondary sucession

Occurs where an existing community has been cleared

• Fire, tornado,

Pioneer species

The organisms in the first stages of succession. The had a wide range of environmental tolerance

• Linchens

Linchens

A pioneer species that turns rock to soil by secreting acids that break down rock. They are eventually replaced by larger organisms

Climax community

When a community has reached an advanced stage of ecological succession

Habitat fragmentation

When a habitat is reduced or isolated

Ecotones

Where ecosystems meet at overlapping boundaries

Edge effect

There is more diversity at boundaries (ecotones) than in the heart of communities

Theory of island biography

Islands that are larger and closer to the mainland will have more biodiversity than smaller & further ones

Specialists

Species with a narrow ecological niche

Generalists

Species with a broad ecological niche