APES Unit 1

Tragedy of the commons

(William Foster Lloyd) People act in self interest rather than greater good

- Has to be public resources

- Resource has to be depleted by overuse

negative externality

harmful side effect that affects an uninvolved third party

Solutions to Tragedy of the Commons

Private land ownership, Fees or taxes for use, fines/criminal charges

Levels of ecology

individual, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere

Commensalism

one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

Symbiosis

A close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species.

Resource Partitioning

When species divide a niche to avoid competition for resources

Resource Partitioning: Temporal

Use of resources at different times

Resource Partitioning: Spatial

Use of resources at different areas

Resource Partitioning: Morphological

A difference in structure of the body that allows an organism to get food that another can't

Characteristics of Aquatic Biome

1. salinity

2. depth

3. flow

4. temperature

layers of freshwater

littoral, limnetic, profundal, benthic

Littoral

a shallow zone in a freshwater habitat where light reaches the bottom and nurtures plants

Limnetic

In a lake, the well-lit, open surface waters farther from shore.

Profundal

The deep, open water where it is too dark for photosynthesis in freshwater lakes

Benthic

Murky bottom where bugs live, nutrient rich sediments

Estuaries

Where a river empties into the sea

intertidal zone

Narrow band of coastline between high and low tide

photic zone

well-lit upper layer of the oceans

aphotic zone

The deeper layer of ocean water that lacks sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis

Carbon sinks

a forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Carbon Sources

Give off carbon (ie: cellular respiration, volcanic activity, burning fossil fuels)

Direct Exchange

CO2 moves directly between atmosphere and the ocean by dissolving into and out of ocean water at the surface

Fossil Fuels

a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

Carbon inbalance

Digging and burning up fossil fuels lead to inbalance

nitrogen reservoirs

atmosphere (main resivoir) and soil

Nitrogen

Critical plant and animal nutrient (for protein)

nitrogen fixation

Process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia (primarily done by bacteria but also done chemically)

Bacteria fixation

Bacteria in soil have a symbiotic relationship with roots and make NH3

Synthetic fixation

humans combust FFs to convert N2 gas into nitrate (NO3-)

nitrogen cycle

Assimilation, Ammonification, Nitrification, Denitrification

Assimilation

Plants take up nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+) ions from the soil through their roots

Ammonification

Soil bacteria, microbes, decomposers convert waste and dead biomass back into NH3 and return it to the soil

Nitrification

Conversion of NH4 into NO2- by bacteria and NO2- to NO3- by bacteria for plant use

Denitrification

Conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas which returns it back to atmosphere

how humans impact the nitrogen cycle

1. Adding gases (driving cars) which contribute to acid rain and respiratory irritation 2. contaminating ground water from nitrate ions with inorganic fertilizer which can lead to aggressive algae growth

Phosphorus Resivoirs

Rocks and sediments containing P

Phosphorus synthetic source

Mining P minerals and adding it to synthetic fertilizer or detergents

geological uplift

exposing underground rocks to the surface

Eutrophication

A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae.

positive feedback loop

feedback loop that causes a system to change further in the same direction

Transpiration

water is absorbed by plant roots from the soil and then released into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor

Evapotranspiration

Combined process of water evaporation from the Earth's surface. Total amount of H2O that enters atm.

Run off

water that flows over the ground surface into a body of water (may gather pollutants)

Infiltration

the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil (only if ground is permeable) into groundwater aquifers

Primary Productivity

Rate at which organic matter is created by producers in an ecosystem

net primary productivity

the rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem (GPP - R)

ecological efficiency

the proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another

- 1% of sunlight is captured and converted

- 40% of that 1% is converted into biomass

Trends in Productivity

The more productive a biome is, the wider the diversity of animal life it can support.

Water availability, higher temp, and nutrient available contribute to high NPP

1st Law of Thermodynamics

Matter and energy never destroyed

2nd law of thermodynamics

Energy cannot be changed from one form to another without a loss of usable energy

(10% of energy is passed on to next organism)

Trophic Cascade

indirect effects in a community that are initiated by a predator