AP Environmental Science ALL UNITS

Individual

A singular organism

Population

Group of all of one type of organism

Community

Interactions between different types of organisms

Ecosystem

A community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system

Biome

An area that shares a combination of average yearly temperature and precipitation

Examples of biotic factors

Producers, herbivores, omnivores, detritivores, soil

Examples of abiotic factors

Sunlight, temperature, precipitation, moisture/water, pH, soil, wind speed, topography

Ecosystem interactions

Interactions involving a biotic and abiotic component

Interspecific interactions

Interactions between species

Intraspecific interactions

Interactions within a species

Competition

Organisms fighting over a resource like food or shelter, which limits population size

Predation

One organism uses another for an energy source (includes herbivores)

Mutualism

Relationship that benefits both organisms

Commensalism

Relationship that benefits one organism and doesn’t impact the other

Herbivores

Organisms that eat plants for energy

Carnivores/ true predators

Kill and eat prey for energy

Parasite

Uses a host organism for energy, often without killing the host and often living inside of the host

Parasitoids

Lay eggs inside a host organism, eggs hatch and larvae eat host for energy

Symbiosis

Any close and long-term interaction between two organisms of different species

Resource partitioning

Different species using the same resource in different ways to reduce competition

Temporal partitioning

Using resources at different times

Spatial partitioning

Using different areas of a shared habitat

Morphological partitioning

Using different resources based on different evolved body features

Climate

Combination of average temperature and precipitation

Taiga/Boreal Forest

-50-60 degrees north

-Short, warm, moist summers

-Long, cold, dry winters

-Coniferous trees

Temperate rainforest

-Mild, frost free winters

-Evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year

Temperate Seasonal Forest

-Cold, dry winters

-Hot, humid summers

-Deciduous trees which shed leaves

-Nutrient rich soil

Tropical rainforest

-Latitudes near the Equator

-Temperatures and rainfall are high

-High biodiversity

-Nutrient-poor soil

Shrubland

-Western coastal areas

-30-40 N and S

-More rain than deserts, less than forests

-Shrubs and short trees

Temperate Grassland

-Seasonal drought

-Some fires

-Few trees

Savanna

-Warmer grasslands

-Scattered trees

Desert

-30 N and S

-Low rainfall

-Plants conserve water

Tundra

-Cold

-Dry

-Short growing season

-Permafrost

-Few plants

Salinity

How much salt there is in a body of water

Influence of depth on an aquatic biome

Influences how much sunlight can penetrate and reach plants below the surface for photosynthesis

Influence of flow on aquatic biomes

The movement of water

-Determines which plants and organisms can survive

-Determines how much oxygen can dissolve

Influence of temperature on aquatic biomes

Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen, so it can support fewer aquatic organisms

Littoral Zone

Shallow water with emergent plants

Limnetic zone

Where light can reach (photosynthesis), no rooted plants, only phytoplankton

Profundal zone

Too deep for sunlight (No photosynthesis)

Benthic zone

Murky bottom water where invertebrates like bugs live, nutrient-rich settlements

Wetland

An area with soil submerged/saturated in water for at least part of the year, but shallow enough for emergent plants

Estuaries

Areas where rivers empty into the ocean (mix of fresh and saltwater)

Pond

A small, potentially seasonal, natural body of standing water

Lake

A large, permanent natural body of standing water

Streams/rivers

Flowing bodies of water that drain the landscape and cause erosion

Coral reef

Warm, shallow waters beyond the shoreline that contain coral

-Most diverse biome, most productive, provides a habitat for many fish

Intertidal zone

Narrow band of coastline between high and low tide

-Organisms are adapted to drying out and crashing waves

Open ocean

The open sea

-Low productivity per area since only algae and phytoplankton can survive in most of the ocean

-Still very large, so algae supply a large portion of O₂ and take in a large portion of CO₂

Photic zone

Area where sunlight can reach

Aphotic zone

Area too deep for sunlight

Brackish

A mix of saltwater and freshwater

Salt marsh

Estuary habitat along the coast in temperate climates, breeding ground for many fish species

Mangrove swamp

Estuary habitat along the coast of tropical biomes, contains mangrove trees with long stilt roots that stabilize the shoreline and act as a habitat

Marshland

A wetland area dominated by herbaceous (non-woody) plants like grasses and reeds

Carbon Cycle

Movement of molecules that contain carbon between sources and sinks

Sink

A reservoir that stores more of an element than it releases

Source

Processes that add more of an element to the atmosphere than they store

Main reservoir of carbon

Atmosphere

In the carbon cycle, how does carbon enter the atmosphere?

-Cellular respiration

-Extraction/combustion

-Direct exchange

-Rocks weathering

In the carbon cycle, how does carbon leave the atmosphere?

-Photosynthesis

-Direct exchange

In the carbon cycle, what happens to carbon after an organism decomposes?

-Dies and decomposes

-Broken down into sediments and compressed by layers of rock (sedimentation and burial)

-Can become fossil fuels (which go back into the atmosphere if burned)

In the carbon cycle, what are the quick steps?

-Atmosphere is a short-term reservoir

-Photosynthesis

-Cellular respiration

In the carbon cycle, what are the long steps?

-Sedimentation and burial

-Fossil fuel formation

In the carbon cycle, how can fossil fuels /sediments be added back to the atmosphere quickly and slowly?

Quick- fossil fuel combustion

Slow- uplift and weathering

Describe the order of the nitrogen cycle (starting in the atmosphere)

-Atmospheric N₂

-Nitrogen fixation by soil bacteria (turn air pockets in soil into ammonia NH₃)

-Ammonification: Ammonia NH₃ is turned into ammonium NH₄

-Nitrification to nitrites then nitrates

-Assimilation

-Denitrification into N₂

Nitrogen Fixation

-Biotic: Microbes in soil / root nodules turn N₂ into ammonia NH₃

-Abiotic: Lightning converts N₂ into ammonia NH₃

Ammonification

NH₃ ammonia is converted into NH₄ ammonium by soil bacteria

Where does the ammonia for ammonification come from?

-Fixed nitrogen by microbes/lightning

-Decomposing organisms

-Waste

Nitrification

Ammonium NH₄ is converted into nitrites NO₂ and then nitrates NO₃ by soil bacteria

Assimilation

Nutrients are taken up through plant roots

Name the chemical compositions of the following: nitrogen gas, ammonia, ammonium, nitrites, nitrates

 N₂ (nitrogen gas), NH₃ (ammonia), NH₄⁺ (ammonium), NO₂^- (nitrites), NO₃^- (nitrates)

What is the major reservoir of the nitrogen cycle?

The atmosphere

Describe N₂

Strongly bonded, inert, unusable by plants

Why is the phosphorus cycle slow?

There is no phosphorous in the atmosphere

Starting in the SOIL , describe the order of the phosphorus cycle

-Stored in the soil

-Plants assimilate phosphorus

-Animals eat plants

-Animals decompose, returning phosphorous to the soil (Phosphorus can also enter soil through waste)

Starting in ROCKS, describe the order of the phosphorous cycle

-Starts in rocks

-Wind and rain erode phosphorus into soil (see soil flashcard) or water

-Sediments are compressed over time

-Phosphorous is stored in marine rocks

-Geologic uplift: Tectonic plate collision forcing up rock layers that move mountains

-Is in rocks

What is the major reservoir of the phosphorus cycle?

Rocks and sediments

Describe the order of the hydrologic cycle, starting in the ocean

-Evaporation

-Evapotranspiration

-Condensation

-Precipitation

-Runoff

What drives the hydrologic cycle?

The sun

What is the largest water reservoir?

The ocean

Evaporation

Energy from the sun changes liquid water to water vapor

Evapotranspiration

The amount of water that enters the atmosphere from transpiration and evaporation combined

Transpiration

Process plants use to draw groundwater up from their leaves

Runoff

Precipitation flows over Earth’s surface into a body of water

Infiltration

Precipitation trickles through soil down into groundwater aquifers and replenishes them

Groundwater

Water stored in pore spaces of permeable rock and sediment layers

Percolation

The movement of water through soil

Sublimation

Ice directly transforms into gas

Describe small water reservoirs

Rivers, lakes, icecaps, groundwater

Primary productivity

Rate that solar energy is converted into organic compounds via photosynthesis over a unit of time

Respiration Loss

Plants use up some of the energy they generate via photosynthesis by doing cellular respiration

Gross primary productivity

The total amount of sun energy that plants capture and convert to energy (glucose) through photosynthesis

Photosynthesis equation

CO₂+H₂O → C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂

Cellular respiration equation

C₆H₁₂O₆ + O₂ → CO₂ + H₂O + energy

Net primary productivity

The amount of energy (biomass) left over for consumers after plants have used some for respiration

Net primary productivity equation

NPP = GPP - RL

What units is primary productivity measured in?

Units of energy per unit area per unit time (e.g., kcal/m2/yr).

Autotroph

An organism that makes its own energy

Ecological efficiency

The portion of incoming solar energy that is captured by plants and converted into biomass