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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
salinity
depth
flow
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
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