Ecosystems and Restoration Ecology

What is ecosytem ecology?

energy flow and chemical cycling between organisms and environment. What variables control photosynthetic productivity in a temperate grassland ecosystem

What is an ecosystem?

community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which they interact

How does energy enter and exit?

enter via radiation and exit as heat

What is primary production?

amount of light energy converted to chemical energy (organic compounds) by autotrophs.

What areas have highest net primary production in terrestrial system?

higher precipitation, higher temperatures, greater amount of solar energy

What is net primary production in aquatic systems affected by?

light and nutrients mainly nitrogen and phosphorus

What is eutrophication?

primary production increases as an ecosystem changes from nutrient poor to nutrient rich

Which biomass pyramid would be more at risk to extinction?

the one with less primary producers than primary consumers

What are biogeochemical cycles?

aka nutrient cycles involve both biotic and abiotic components, cycles defined by 2 characteristics - whether they consist of organic or inorganic materials and whether these materials are available for direction use by organisms or unavailable

What is the water cycle?

water is essential for all organisms 97% of water is found in oceans (so unusable) with 2% in ice and 1 % in lakes, starts with evaporation from ocean and precipitation over ocean, then net movement of water vapor by wind there there is precipation over land evapotranspiration from land, and then percolation through soil and runoff and ground water that goes into ocean

What is the carbon cycle?

essential for organic molecules, photosynthesis uses Co2, cellular respiration and burning fossil fuels release CO2 into atmosphere, cellular respiration releases CO2 into atmosphere but photosynthesis on land and ocean takes up up and then it gets consumers by animals and they die so turn into detritus and decomposition also releases Co2 and so does burning fossil fuels and wood

What is the terrestrial nitrogen cycle?

essential for amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, nitrogen fixation

What is the phosphorus cycle?

essential for nucleic acids, phospholipids, ATP

What is restoration ecology?

returning degraded ecosystems to a more natural state, speed up the natural process of succession, get the ecosystem back to its original state or as close to it as possible, assumptions that environmental damage is partially reversible and ecosystems are not infinitely resilient

What are the two main strategies in restoring ecosystems?

bioremediation, biological augmentation

How does bioremediation work?

using prokaryotes, fungi or plants to clean up polluted areas, bacterial growth stimulated with ethanol and converts soluble forms of uranium to insoluble forms

What is biological augmentation?

using organisms to add essential material to an ecosystem like adding nitrogen fixing plants or bird feeders

What are some worldwide restoration efforts?

Kissimmee River Florida where river converted to 90 km canal causing wetlands to dry up threatening fish and bird populations and restoration is reestablishing part of the river has helped restore the wetland ecosystem, Succulent Karoo in South Africa - overgrazing by livestock has damaged this biome and restoration is revegetating the land and employing sustainable resource management, Maungatautari in New Zealand exotic mammals have threatened native plants and animals so they built fences to exclude exotics, Coastal Indonesia - destruction of seaweed and seagrass beds has threatened a variety of fish and shellfish so restoration includes constructing suitable seafloor habitat transplanting and hand seeding seaweeds and seagrass