Vocabulary

• Predator: an organism that preys on another (heterotroph)

• Prey: an organism that is killed by another for food

• Symbiosis: a close long-term interaction between two species in an ecosystem

• Commensalism: a symbiotic relationship where one species benefits and the other species is unaffected. Ex. Cattle and Egrets

• Mutualism: a symbiotic relationship between two species where both receive a benefit that results in an increased chance of survival and reproduction. Ex. Clownfish and sea anemones

• Parasitism: a relationship where one organism lives IN or INSIDE OF another. One species benefits, while the other is greatly harmed. Ex. Fleas or ticks on mammals

• Interspecific competition: competition between members of the SAME species

• Intraspecific competition: competition between members of DIFFERENT species

• Niche: the role or position a species plays in its environment -- its food, its prey, its predators, its habitat, its reproduction, etc.

• Fundamental Niche: all the roles or positions a species can occupy

• Realized Niche: the actual niche due to competition

• Terrestrial: land-based biomes, characteristics vary with temperature, precipitation, and latitude. Hot, humid regions have great primary productivity and thus greater biodiversity than cold or dry regions.

• Latitude: the reason for a biome at a particular location, with altitude also contributing

• Polar: relating to the North or South Pole; Poles are at 90*N and S, and the Polar Zones begin at 66.5*N and 66.5*S.

• Temperate: Goes through four seasons and leaves fall off on trees.

• Tropical: Abundant rainfall, highest biodiversity on land. Lush, dark, and damp. Poor soil.

• Aquatic: biomes of water; characterized by salinity, depth, and water flow.

• Marine: characterized by salt water: estuaries, coral reefs, intertidal zones, and the open sea

• Climate: the regional patterns of temperature and precipitation

• Permafrost: found in tundra, a frozen layer of soil that prevents drainage

• Sink: A large reservoir that pulls material out of the cycle and holds on to elements.

• Reservoir: The forms of the elements in the ecosystem such as biomass, aqueous, air, and soil.

• Nitrification: Plants and algae convert nitrogen into ions such as ammonia (NH4) and nitrite (NO2). Then, this nitrite will be converted to a nitrate (NO3).

• Ammonification: organisms die and fungal and bacterial organisms break down the organic matter to convert it back into ammonium (NH4).

• Denitrification: return N2 (nitrogen gas) into the atmosphere through multiple steps: through anaerobic conditions by bacteria

• Assimilation: usable nitrogen ions enter animal tissues when herbivores feed on plants. These herbivores then release any nitrogen not assimilated as waste products.

• Nitrogen Fixation: the process of converting nitrogen gas into forms that plants and algae can use.

• Eutrophication: gradual increase in excess nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic biomes causing environmental issues like algae blooms.

• Transpiration: water released by plants through cellular respiration.

• Seepage/Percolation: the process of water soaking into the ground

• Surface Water: the freshwater that flows across the earth's land surface and into rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs

• Precipitation: gaseous to liquid water

• Evaporation: The process of turning from a liquid into vapor

• Run-off: The conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid

• Erosion: (a type of land degradation) the movement of soil components, especially surface litter and topsoil from one place to another.

• Condensation: The conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid

• Photosynthesis: process producers go through to produce energy. CO2 + H2O + O2 = C6H12O6

• Cellular Respiration: when animals take in in glucose and oxygen, producing water and carbon dioxide. C6H12O6 + O2 = H2O + CO2

• Sedimentary Rocks: the major reservoir for phosphorus

• Sediments: solid material that is moved and deposited in a new location.

• Fossil Fuels: formed over time from deposits of once-living organisms and take thousands of years to form

• Producer: Autotrophs that produce energy, such as algae

• Phytoplankton: Cause increase in oxygen, producers in most food webs, affected by mercury, harmed by mussels and fish like asian corp

• Zooplankton: Plankton that consume phytoplankton, influenced by mercury levels, primary consumer in most food webs

• Environment: the sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life

• Environmental science: the field of study that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature

• Ecosystem: a particular location on Earth with interacting biotic and abiotic components

• Biotic: living

• Abiotic: nonliving

• Environmentalism: a social movement that seeks to protect the environment through lobbying, activism, and education

• Environmental studies: the field of study that includes environmental science and additional subjects such as environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics

• Sustainability: using Earth’s resources in a way that does not jeopardize future generations from engaging in similar activities

• Scientific method: an objective method to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, and predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes

• Hypothesis: a testable conjecture about how something works

• Variable: any categories, conditions, factors, or traits that differ in the natural world or in experimental situations

• Independent variable: a variable that is NOT dependent on other factors

• Dependent variable: a variable that is dependent on other factors

• Null hypothesis: a prediction that there is no difference between the groups or conditions that are being compared

• Natural experiment: a natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

• Control group: in a scientific investigation, a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study

• Replication: the data collection procedure of taking repeated measurements

• Sample size (n): the number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection

• Accuracy: how close measured value is to the actual or true value

• Precision: how close the repeated measurements of a sample are to one another

• Uncertainty: an estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value

• Inductive reasoning: the process of making general statements from specific facts or examples

• Deductive reasoning: the process of applying a general statement to specific facts or situations

• Theory: a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance

• First law of thermodynamics: a theory with no known exception that states that energy is neither created nor destroyed but it can change from one form to another

• Second law of thermodynamics: a theory with no known exception that states that when energy is transformed, the quantity of energy remains the same, but its ability to do work diminished.

1.1

• What does a predator-prey graph look like?

  

• Provide an example of each type of symbiosis:

  • Mutualism - Clownfish and Sea Anemones

  • Commensalism - Cattle and Egrets

  • Parasitism - Fleas/Ticks on Mammals

• What is an organism’s niche?

  • The role or position an organism plays in its environment - its food, its prey, its predators, its habitat, its reproduction, etc.

• What happens to both populations of competing species when one outcompetes the other?

  • The fittest organism will win out and the other species will suffer then, unless it ends in interspecific competition

• What is an example of resource partitioning?

  • Warbles sharing a tree to prevent interspecies conflict

• Key Points:

  • In a predator-prey relationship, the predator is the organism that hunts and eats the prey.

  • Symbiosis is a close and long-term interaction between two species in an ecosystem. This includes mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

  • Competition can occur within or between species in an ecosystem when resources are scarce. Resources can be partitioned (used in different ways, places, or times), which can reduce the negative impact of competition on survival.

1.2

• Key Points:

  • A biome is a community of plants and animals that have evolved to a specific area’s climate. An area’s climate (temperature and precipitation) determines its soil, which determines its flora and fauna.

  • Major biomes include taiga, temperate rainforests, temperate seasonal forests, tropical rainforests, shrubland, temperate grassland, savanna, desert, and tundra

  • The distribution of resources (water, trees for lumber) varies due to differences in climate, geography, latitude and altitude, nutrient availability, and soil.

  • The distribution of biomes is always changing - it was different in the past and may shift again due to global climate change.

  • Which biome has the poorest soil? Why?

    • Tropical rainforest, due to the high rates of rain and decomposition

  • Which biome has permafrost soil?

    • Tundra

  • Which biome(s) have plants adapted to little moisture?

    • Desert

  • Which biome has a severe dry season and grasses?

    • Savanna

  • Which direction will temperate seasonal forests shift due to a warming climate?

    • More towards North and higher elevation

  • Which terrestrial biome has a large amount of nutrients from decomposing plant matter?

    • Temperate deciduous forest and temperate grassland

  • Known how to read climate graphs

1.3

• Key Points:

  • Freshwater biomes include streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes

  • Marine biomes are oceans, intertidal zones, coral reefs, marshlands, and estuaries. Algae in marine biomes supplies a huge amount of the Earth’s oxygen and removes CO2 from the atmosphere.

  • Global distribution of resources like fish varies due to salinity, depth, turbidity, nutrient availability, and temperature.

  • Why are phytoplankton the most abundant in the upper few hundred feet of water?

    • The most Sunlight is available at the upper level

  • Which aquatic biome has a large amount of nutrients from decomposing plant matter?

    • Wetlands

  • Which biome can carry runoff from erosion?

    • Streams - which carries to rivers, lakes, oceans, etc.

  • Which biome has the largest extremes in temperature, salinity, and light within a single day?

    • Oceans

  • Where is the majority of freshwater on Earth?

    • Ice and Glaciers

  • What are barrier islands? How are they formed? Why are they important?

    • Islands off coast from continents, form as waves repeatedly deposit sediment parallel to the shore, these are important since they protect coastal communities and ecosystems from extreme weather

1.4

• Key Points:

  • Explain the steps and reservoir interactions in a carbon cycle.

  • Carbon cycle is the movement of atoms and molecules of Carbon between sources and sinks.

  • Some reservoirs (areas where something is stored) of carbon hold onto carbon for a long period of time, while others hold onto the carbon for a shorter period of time

  • Carbon cycles between photosynthesis and cellular respiration in living things

  • Plant and Animal decomposition has led to the storage of carbon over millions of years (fossil fuels).

  • Burning of fossil fuels quickly moves that stored carbon into the atmosphere in the form of CO2.

  • The carbon cycle (through calcium carbonate) has a role in buffering (preventing) pH changes in lakes and other aquatic ecosystems.

  • What are the reactants and products of cellular respiration?

    • Reactants: C6H12O6 + O2

    • Products: CO2 + H2O

  • Where does most of the biological dissolved oxygen in the ocean come from?

    • Phytoplankton

  • Which carbon sinks are short-term?

    • Soil Carbon, Atmosphere, Ocean Surface, Plant Biomass

  • Which carbon sinks are long-term?

    • Limestone, deep ocean, sediments, and fossil carbon

1.5

• Key Points:

  • Explain the steps and reservoir interactions in the nitrogen cycle.

  • The nitrogen cycle is the movement of atoms and compounds containing nitrogen between sources and sinks.

  • Most of the reservoirs in the carbon cycle hold onto nitrogen for a short period of time.

  • Nitrogen fixation is the process in which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate that can be taken up by plants and incorporated into plant tissues

  • Nitrogen Fixation: process of converting nitrogen gas into forms that plant and algae can use

  • Nitrification: The process by which bacteria in soil and water oxidize ammonia and ammonium ions and form nitrites and nitrates.

  • Denitrification: bacteria reverse nitrogen nitrification NO3 to N2O to N2

  • Ammonification: decomposers break down biological nitrogen compounds into ammonium (NH4).

  • Assimilation: plants/algae take up either ammonium or nitrate

  • Eutrophication: gradual increase in excess nitrogen in aquatic biomes causing environmental issues.

  • Which process makes unusable nitrogen gas available to producers?

    • Nitrogen Fixation

  • Describe the roles various bacteria have in the nitrogen cycle?

    • Allow ammonification and denitrification to occur - NH3 to NH4 and NO3 to N2

  • How do humans impact the nitrogen cycle?

    • Through fossil fuel emissions and insecticide run-off and leaching.

  • What is the major reservoir for nitrogen?

    • Atmosphere

1.6

• Key Points:

  • Explain the steps and reservoir interactions in the phosphorus cycle

  • The phosphorous cycle is the movement of atoms and compounds containing phosphorous between sources and sinks

  • The major reservoir of phosphorus in the cycle are rock and sediments that contain phosphorus not being able to be dissolved in water, it makes phosphorus limited in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. It is often the limiting factor.

  • Known that phosphorus does not enter ecosystems easily. Phosphorus often remains in stable, insoluble compounds (they cannot be dissolved in water). Weathering of rocks can release phosphorus into ecosystem soil and water.

  • If soil containing phosphorus erodes and sediments are carried into water, what ecological problems can occur?

    • Algal blooms; excess phosphorous and nitrogen

  • Anthropogenic of phosphorus to put in fertilizer include mining for rocks with phosphorus, harvesting guarno and manure

    • Excluding weathering of rock, how would phosphorus cycle in a forest or other ecosystem?

      • Through living organisms and decomposition

1.7

• Key Points:

  • Explain the steps and reservoir interactions in the hydrologic cycle

  • The hydrologic cycle, which is powered by the Sun, is the movement of water in its various solid, liquid, and gaseous phases between sources and sinks.

  • The oceans are the primary reservoir of water at the Earth’s surface, with ice caps and groundwater being smaller reservoirs

• What are the ways humans impact the hydrologic cycle?

  • Removing trees and creating impermeable solutions - reduces evapotranspiration

• How is this cycle impacted by developing land, pouring concrete and paving roads?

  • Leads to flooding or high forms of erosion - water cannot enter ground

• How do each of the biogeochemical cycles demonstrate the conservation of matter?

  • Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and H2O do not diminish; cycle through abiotic and biotic parts of ecosystem indefinitely

1.8

• Primary productivity is the RATE at which sunlight is converted into organic compounds (glucose) via photosynthesis per unit of time

• This rate can be measured in units such as kg C/m2/year OR kcal/m2/year

• Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the total rate of photosynthesis in a given area

• Net primary productivity (NPP) is the rate of energy storage by plants in a given area, after removing the energy they use for their own functions (respiration/immune/flowering)

• Productivity is measured in units of energy per unit area per unit time (kcal/m2/year)

• Most red light is absorbed by the top (1m) of the water, blue light penetrates deeper (100m). This affects photosynthesis in aquatic ecosystems, whose photo synthesizers have adapted mechanisms to address the lack of visible light.

• Productivity Equation:

  • GPP - R = NPP

  • Producers perform BOTH photosynthesis and cellular respiration

• Which terrestrial biome has the highest net primary productivity per unit area? Which one has the lowest?

  • Tropical Rainforest = Higher

  • Desert = Lower

• Which aquatic biome has the highest net primary productivity per unit area? Which one has the lowest?

  • Swamps and Marshes = Higher, Open Ocean = Lower

• What factors increase net primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems?

  • Water and Temperature

• What factors increase net primary productivity in aquatic ecosystems?

  • Sunlight and Nutrients

• Why are red organisms found deeper in the ocean?

  • Red light is invisible deeper in ocean, so prey can hide and predators can sneak up on prey.

• How does the lack of red light impact producers in the ocean?

  • Algae and other producers evolve to absorb different levels of light. Typically, these algae rely on blue light.

• How do predators and/or prey have adaptations for the wavelengths of light in the ocean?

  • Camouflage and Bioluminescence

• Why do open ocean ecosystems produce the largest share of Earth’s biomass when the rate per square kilometer is the lowest of all ecosystems?

  • Open ocean have sunlight and some nutrients, but mostly have more light so that more organisms can exist. Open oceans have a larger range of tolerance.

1.9

• Key Points:

  • All ecosystems depend on energy flowing to maintain their structure. Matter must constantly be cycled within the biogeochemical cycles.

  • Biogeochemical cycles are essential for life and each cycle shows law of conservation of matter (matter is neither created nor destroyed, only transferred)

  • In terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, energy flows from the sun to producers (lowest trophic levels), then into the higher trophic levels

• What are the roles of decomposers?

  • Decomposers chemically break down organic material

• What are the roles of detritivores?

  • Detritivores eat and break down dead tissues and waste.

• What are the roles of scavengers?

  • Scavengers consume dead animals

• The 10% rule says that only 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next.

• The loss of energy that occurs when energy moves from one trophic level to another is explained by the two laws of thermodynamics

• Biomass is the total mass of all living matter in a specific area. This is shown through trophic pyramids like this one:

• 

• What happens to 90% of the energy that is lost to the ecosystem?

  • It is lost as heat as it is transferred from 1 organism to another

• How do the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics relate to the 10% rule?

  • Matter cannot be destroyed or created, energy transformed loses the ability to do work.

1.11

• A food web is a model of how energy and nutrients flow in two or more food chains that are interconnected.

• Positive and negative feedback loops play a role in food webs - when a species is removed or added, the rest are affected.

• What type of organism always starts a food chain or food web?

  • A producer

• Where does almost all the energy originally come from in ecosystems?

  • The Sun

• Why do many experiments need a control?

  • It provides a reference for the effects of random environmental factors

  • It provides a reference for “normal conditions”