Biology Chapter 55 Ecosystems and Restoration

Ecosystem

Sum of organisms living in a given area

Law of Conservation of Mass

Matter cannot be created or destroyed

Primary Produces

Trophic level that supports all others consist of autotrophs

Herbivores

Eats plants and other primary producers

Carnivores

Eat herbivores are secondary

Eat carnivores are tertiary

Detritivores

Heterotrophy that eat detritus

Detritus

Non living organic material

Primary Production

Amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs

Gross Primary Production

Total primary production in an ecosystem

Net Primary Production

GPP - energy used by primary producers for autotrophic respiration

Net Ecosystem Production

Total biomass accumulation

Limiting Nutrient

Element that must be added for production to increase

Secondary Production

Amount of chemical energy in consumers food that is converted to their own new biomass

Production Efficiency

Percent of energy stored in assimilated food not used for respiration

Trophic Efficiency

Percent of production transferred from. 1 trophic level

Biogeochemical Cycles

Nutrient cycle that involves both biotic and abiotic factors

Bioremediation

Using organisms to detoxify polluted ecosystems

Biological Augmentation

Use organisms to add essential materials to a degraded ecosystem

10%

Trophic efficiency

Heat

Energy in feces and respiration is lost from ecosystem as?

Constituent of nucleic acid phospholipids and ATP

Importance of Phosphorus Cycle

Nitrogen Fixation

Conversion of N₂ to synthesizable organic N compounds

Denitrification

Reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gases

Ammonification

Converting nitrogen to ammonia

Nitrification

Convert anemia to nitrite