Bioooooo Final
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Gross Primary Production
-
-total amount of carbon fixed by autotrophs in an ecosystem
-controlled by climate, nutrients, and autotroph biomass - Net primary production
-
-the amount of energy available to the consumers in an ecosystem
-plants need about 1/2 carbon fixed to support biosynthesis and cellular maintenance.
-NPP=GPP-carbon lost to respiration - Actual evapotranspiration (AET)
- -the total amount of water that evaporates and transpires off a landscape (mL water/year)
- eutrophication
-
-the transformation of an ecosystem from low nutrient levels to high nutrient levels
-usually caused by humans
-bottom up changes in community - trophic dynamics
-
-the transfer of energy from one part of the ecosystem to another
-all heterotrophs rely on energy from autotrophs - ecological efficiency
- -the percentage of energy at one trophic level transferred to another
- consumption efficiency
-
-proportion of available biomass that is ingested
-higher trophic levels=high consumption efficiency
-example: zebras eat grass, lion eats zebra - assimilation efficiency
-
-proportion of ingested food that is absorbed by digestive tract (determined by quality of food)
-higher food quality as you move up trophic levels
-ex: herbivores-20-50%, carnivores-80% - production efficiency
- -proportion of assimilated biomass used to produce new consumer biomass
- nutrients
-
-elements that are required for the development, maintenance, and reproduction of organisms
-different from energy in that they are not lost in transfer - nutrient cycling
- -the use, transformation, movement and reuse of nutrients in ecosystems
- nutrient pools
-
-the amount of a particular nutrient stored in a portion of the ecosystem
-nutrients move through nutrient pools - nutrient flux
- -the movement of nutrients between nutrient pools in an ecosystem
- nutrient sink
-
-a part of the biosphere where a nutrient is absorbed faster than it is released
-ex: phosphorus settling at the bottom of a lake - nutrient source
-
-a part of the biosphere where a nutrient is released faster than it is absorbed
-ex: burning fossil fuels - mechanical weathering
-
-physical breakdown of rocks
-ex: water erosion - chemical weathering
-
-release of soluble forms of nutrients through chemical reactions
-ex: carbonic acid releasing calcium - nitrogen fixation
-
-nitrogen fixers include cyanobacteria, some soil bacteria, bacteria associated with alder, bacteria associated with legumes
-can also be fixed by lightening
-haber bosch process artificially fixes N - mineralization
-
-conversion from organic to inorganic compounds
-often occurs during decomposition
-influenced by temp, moisture, and chemical composition of environment - bioturbation
- -displacement and mixing of sediment particles and solutes by living organisms
- succession
- -change in communities following creation of new substrate or a disturbance
- disturbance
-
-any process that destroys or removes biomass
-can cause marked changes in a community or population
-ex:forest fires - pioneer community
- -the first community to be established after a disturbance
- climax community
- -communities that occur in late succession and generally have stable populations
- alternative stable states
- -different community development scenarios are possible at the same location under similar environmental conditions
- hysteresis
- -the inability to shift back to an original community type, even when conditions are restored
- biogeography
- -the study of ecological structure and process at large geographic scales
- continental islands
- -form when land breaks away from continents
- volcanic islands
- -form when new land is created from volcanic activity
- landscape
- -an area that is spatially heterogenous either in its elements or how those elements are arranged
- landscape ecology
- -the study of the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes over a range of scales
- landscape structure
-
-the size, shape, composition, number and position of landscape elements within a landscape
-can be analogous to studying anatomy of organisms - patches
- -continuous area of one habitat type
- matrix
-
-the background mosaic
-often unsuitable - ecotone
- -transition zone from one ecosystem type to another
- ecosystem engineers
- -organisms that change their physical environment enough to influence structure of landscapes, ecosystems or communities
- habitat fragmentation
- -refers to human caused changes to a landscape that reduce the amount of continuous habitat
- SLOSS
- -single large or several small
- corridor
-
-connect habitat patches
-aid dispersal - applied ecology
-
-using theoretical principles and concepts to manage real populations, communities, ecosystems, etc
-often falls under discipline of conservation biology - conservation biology
- -scientific discipline that studies threats to biodiversity and how to mitigate them
- weather
- -current temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, etc
- climate
- -long term description of weather in a region measured over years and decades
- precautionary principle
- -the principle when information about a potential risk is incomplete, decisions about future policies should be based on a preference for avoiding unnecessary environmental or health risks
- Key point 1
- -organisms are adapted to their environments
- key point 2
- -the principle of allocation
- key point 3
- -populations and communities are regulated by the environment and by species interactions
- key point 4
- -organisms never do just one thing (they are connected to everything around them)
- key point 5
- -ecological processes follow principles of physics and mathematics
- key point 6
- -humans alter ecological processes
- mean residence time (actual)***
-
-average time a molecule of an element spends in a pool before leaving a pool
-lower in the tropics