Ecology

Flashcards based on the lecture notes about ecosystems.

What is an example of Support Services provided by ecosystems?

Recycling compounds necessary for life, such as forming new soil or producing oxygen.

What is an example of Provisioning Services provided by ecosystems?

Providing raw materials needed to live, such as food, water, fiber, and fuel.

What do Regulating Services provided by ecosystems do?

Regulate many of the Earth's systems, filter air and water, provide flood control, change CO2 into O2, and regulate climate.

Why are green spaces important as part of Cultural Services?

Provide places to play, inspire us, and allow us to discover/learn new things.

What is biodiversity?

The number of different types of organisms in an ecosystem.

How does biodiversity affect an ecosystem's ability to adapt?

The more biodiverse, the better it is able to adapt to changes.

What are the effects of deforestation on the environment?

More flooding and changes to water quality.

How do nonnative species spread to new areas?

Humans travel and take organisms (directly or indirectly) to new areas.

What are ecosystems?

When plant, insect, animal, even the right temperature and location are needed for an ecosystem to survive, and work together.

What is an individual, referring to ecosystems?

One organism in an area

What is a population, referring to ecosystems?

All the organisms of the SAME species in a given area

What is a community, referring to ecosystems?

All the living things in a given area

What is an ecosystem?

All the living and the nonliving things in a given area

What are biotic factors?

Living things.

What are abiotic factors?

Non-living things.

What are the three groups that living things (biotic factors) are broken up into?

Producers, consumers, and decomposers/detrivores.

What are producers?

Also called trophs, can make their own food from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.

What are Consumers?

Eat producers or other consumers

What are herbivores?

Only eat plants

What are carnivores?

Only eat animals

What are omnivores?

Eat plant and animals

What are decomposers and detrivores?

Eat the waste left by dead plants and animals, Without them there would be dead waste everywhere and nothing would be recycled into the Earth.

What are food chains?

A directory of who eats who in an ecosystem.

What is a trophic level?

Each level of a food chain.

Why don't Decomposers have a trophic level?

consume the dead organisms from every level.

What is a food web?

Food webs are a series interconnected food chains

What is albedo?

The amount that is reflected of sunlight

What is Energy Transfer?

Energy from the sun is transferred through the ecosystem when organisms eat each other.

Why is the energy passed on limited to approximately 5 organism (in a food chain)?

Most of the energy is used to keep the organism alive and is not stored in the body; only about 10% of the energy consumed by an organism is passed on to the organism above it.

What is a sustainable ecosystem?

Ecosystem that can withstand pressure and give support to a wide variety of organisms.

What are the three main ways living things interact with one another?

Symbiosis, predation, and competition.

What is Symbiosis?

An interaction between 2 different species that live closely together

What is Parasitism?

An interaction that benefits one of the species but harms the other species

What is Mutualism?

An interaction that benefits both species

What is Commensalism?

An interaction that benefits one species but does not affect the other species at all.

What is Predation?

Occurs when one organism (predator) consumes another organism (prey)

What is Competition?

Occurs when two or more organisms compete for the same resources

What is Interspecies competition?

When two different species fight over the same resources

What is Intraspecies competition?

When two or more animals of the same species fight over resources

What are the most important abiotic factors?

Temperature, Sunlight, water, soil, oxygen and nutrients

What is a population?

A group of organisms of the same species that live in the ecosystem

What are limiting factors?

Restrictions that stop exponential growth

What is a Density independent factor?

Do not depend on the size of the population; usually abiotic

What is a density dependent factor?

Does depend on the size of the population; usually biotic

What is carrying capacity?

Size of a population that can be supported indefinitely

What is an ecological niche?

Unique position with that ecosystem (habitat, food, predators, etc)

Why is The Human Ecological Niche so important?

It is much larger than other species. It is very important that humans use the ecosystem and its resources in a sustainable way.

What is an Ecological Footprint?

A measure of the impact of a human individual or population on the environment

What is a global hectare?

One global hectare is the world's annual amount of biological production (for human use) and waste assimilation.

What are the 2 different main forms of carbon?

Organic (containing both carbon AND hydrogen) and Inorganic (containing carbon of hydrogen)

What is the role of plants in photosynthesis?

Plants use carbon dioxide and water to create glucose/sugar and oxygen.

What is Cellular Respiration?

Animals ingest sugar and oxygen and create carbon dioxide and water as waste products.

What are reservoirs of carbon?

Plants, Animals, Atmosphere, Fossil Fuels and Earth's crust

How do Human Disrupt the Carbon Cycle

Humans are greatly disrupting the carbon cycle though a variety of ways. Fossil fuels are a reservoir for inorganic carbon however we digging them up and using them to fuel cars, factories, etc, this causes extra carbon dioxide to enter the atmosphere.

What two ways can nitrogen be converted from one type to another (nitrification)?

Lighting and Bacteria

What is Denitrification?

When nitrogen can be returned to the unusable (N2) form (denitrification) completed by denitrifying bacteria in areas that are low in oxygen which the bacteria take from the nitrate (NO) particles..

How Plants get their nitrate?

through nitrification by lightning or from bacteria

How consumers get their nitrate?

consuming plants

How do Humans use nitrogen?

Humans use nitrogen as main ingredient in Fertilizers

What is is Eutrophication?

The process of depositing extra nutrients causing algae blooms in nearby lakes and rivers

How do Humans create carbon dioxide?

Humans release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burning fossil fuels.

What are different methods to reduce the CO2 levels from Humans?

Plants, Recycling, and The Kyoto Protocol

What is Bioaccumulation?

The process in which materials, especially toxins, are ingested by an organism at a greater rate then they are expelled

What is Biomagnification?

The increase in concentration of a toxin as it moves from one trophic level to the next

What are examples of Toxins?

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

What is biodiversity?

The number of different organisms in an ecosystem

What does sustainable mean?

Stable and constant in the presence of changes to the ecosystem.

What are the main threats due to humans to ecosystems?

Deforestation, Wetlands drained, and Exotic Species/Invasive Species / Alien species

What are Exotic Species/Invasive Species / Alien species?

Species that are introducees into new ecosystems