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Science Unit Test > Ecosystems and the Biosphere > Flashcards

Ecosystems and the Biosphere Flashcards

1
Q

What combines to make the most important part of the biosphere?

A

Biomes

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2
Q

What are the three components of the biosphere?

A

Atmosphere
Lithosphere
Hydrosphere

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3
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

The layer of gasses surrounding the earth

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4
Q

Name some components of the atmosphere

A

Nitrogen- 78%
Oxygen- 21%
Argon- 0.9%

And varying amounts of water vapour and trace amounts of hydrogen, ozone, methane, carbon monoxide, helium, neon, krypton, xenon and carbon dioxide

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5
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

The lithosphere is the earth’s solid, outer layer. It includes the rigid crust and the upper mantle, which lies directly below the crust. The lithosphere extends 100km down from the surface and runs under continents and oceans

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6
Q

What are some components of the lithosphere?

A

soil
plants
animals
fungi

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7
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

All the water on earth

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8
Q

What percentage of water is salt water or fresh water?

A

97% Salt water

3% Fresh water

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9
Q

What bodies of water are salt water?

A

Oceans

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10
Q

What bodies of water are fresh water?

A

lakes, streams, ice, and snow glaciers

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11
Q

What is ecology?

A

the study of how organisms interact with each other as well as with the environment

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12
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A complex, self-regulating system in which living things interact with each other and nonliving things

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13
Q

What are some characteristics of ecosystems?

A

Self-regulating
complex
Living things interact with each other and non living things

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14
Q

Define Biotic

And some examples of biotic things in an ecosystem

A 
living organisms or things that once lived 
fallen tree,
leaf on the ground,
grass,
chipmunk.
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15
Q

Define Abiotic

And some examples of abiotic things in an ecosystem

A

all the physical non-living things and measurable things

rocks, 
air,
water, 
temperature, 
hours of daylight, 
salt concentration
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16
Q

Define species

A

a group of similar organisms in an ecosystem who can reproduce and their offspring can reproduce

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17
Q

Define population

A

a group of members of the same species that live in the same area

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18
Q

Define habitat

A

the physical environment of an organism

Where they live

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19
Q

Define niche

A

all the interactions of a given species with its ecosystem

Their job

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20
Q

Define community

A

made up of all populations of different species that live and interact in an area

Different species

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21
Q

What is an ecological niche?

A

IT’S JOB

Includes where it lives (habitat), what it eats, what eats it, and how it behaves

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22
Q

What are the five types of consumers?

A

Herbivore → only eats plants or other producers
Carnivore→ only eats other consumers
Omnivore → eats both consumers and producers
Scavenger → feeds on dead organisms
Decomposer → feeds on decaying organism

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23
Q

What do decomposers do?

What are some examples of decomposers?

A

Use of enzymes to break organic matter down and release the nutrients back into the ecosystem

Fungi,
Bacteria

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24
Q

Describe the similarity between Consumers and Decomposers

A

All decomposers are consumers but not all decomposers are consumers. Decomposers consume the non living thing, but consumers are just there to eat

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25
Q

What is a food chain?

A

Food chains illustrate who eats whom in an ecosystem

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26
Q

What term is used to describe who eats what in an ecosystem?

A

Predator-prey relationships

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27
Q

What is an ecological pyramid?

A

how food webs overlap

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28
Q

What is a numbers pyramid?

A

Shows the number of individuals of all populations in each trophic level

(How many trees)

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29
Q

What do energy pyramids say about the energy a species receives based on their position and what direction is the energy moving?

A

There is less energy available to the species at the top because only about 10% of the energy is passed on to the next level.

Energy is passed up through the pyramid

30
Q

What is a biomass pyramid?

A

Shows the total mass of all individuals combined

The weight of all the trees together

31
Q

What is a trophic level?

A

a trophic level describes the position of an organism in a food chain

32
Q

Why do we act like living recycling machines?

A

Water and nutrients are components of physical matter. You get these from the food you eat, the water you drink and the air you breathe. Almost every cell in your body is replaced over time

Ex. Approximately 2 million of your red blood cells are replaced every second

33
Q

What are biogeographical cycles?

What are the three we are studying?

A

Biogeographical cycles show the movement of matter through the biotic and abiotic environment.

  • Water cycle
  • Carbon cycle
  • Nitrogen cycle
34
Q

Define biogeochemical cycles

A

Particles that make up can not be created nor destroyed. All water and nutrients must be produced or obtained from chemicals that already exist. This all occurs in a cycle in which chemicals are continuously being rearranged, stored and used. The cycles involve living (bio) organisms and occur as Earth (geo) processes, they are called biogeochemical cycles in which every particle in an organism is part of

35
Q

Describe the water cycle

Is the water mainly present in the abiotic or biotic environment?

A
  1. water evaporates - water vapour in atmosphere
  2. Vapour condenses making liquid water or ice crystals
  3. It comes back to earth in rain, hail or snow (precipitation)
  4. May enter the soil or move across the surface, re-entering bodies of water
  5. What is taken in from plant root may be released from leaves- precipitation

-Abiotic

36
Q

Explain the Carbon cycle

A

Large quantities of carbon cycle through photosynthesis and cellular respiration

37
Q

Explain the nitrogen cycle

A

Nitrogen is taken from the atmosphere by bacteria in a process called nitrogen fixation. These micro- organisms convert nitrogen gas into a variety of nitrogen-containing compounds including nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia.
Once in the soil ecosystem, the nitrogen-rich compounds are available to producers. After the nitrogen is absorbed, it is passed from producer to consumer and on up the food chain. Many animals consume more nitrogen than they can use and excrete the excess in the form of urea or ammonia.
A dead organism’s nitrogen-rich compounds are taken in by decomposers or are released back into the environment. These compounds are either recycled again or they are converted by denitrifying bacteria back into nitrogen gas which then re-enters the atmosphere

38
Q

Explain the process of eutrophication

A
  1. nutrients make their way into the water (phosphates, nitrogen)
  2. Algae starts to grow
  3. Algae blocks the sunlight
  4. plants in the water start dying from lack of sunlight
  5. Bacteria starts to decompose dead plants which uses oxygen
  6. fish start dying from lack of oxygen
  7. Bacteria uses MORE oxygen to decompose fish…

SPOILER ALERT!!! Eventually everything dies.

39
Q

What is a limiting factor? What does it do?

A

any factor that restricts the size of a population or where it can live
Prevents overpopulation

40
Q

What are some Abiotic limiting factors?

A
  • amount of light, water, nutrients and space!!
  • temperature, acidity and salinity
  • natural disturbances (storm, fire, drought)
41
Q

What are some Biotic limiting factors?

A

-human disturbances (logging, mining)

includes how species in a community interact with each other.
Ex. competition, predation, symbiosis

42
Q

What is a tolerance range?

A

they can tolerate (or survive within) a certain range of a particular factor, but cannot survive if there is too much or too little of the factor
(Squirrels have trouble being sustainable if there are less acorns. But if there are too many acorns, then all of the other squirrels will take them all, and the population of squirrels could increase very quickly.

43
Q

What is a carrying capacity?

A

Maximum population size of a species that an ecosystem can sustain

44
Q

How do humans affect the carbon cycle?

A

We burn fossil fuels, releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere, causing climate change.

Deforestation also affects it because the trees aren’t absorbing the carbon

45
Q

What quantity of carbon is NOT cycled? What happens to it instead?

A

Most carbon is not cycled.

It is stored in carbon-rich deposits such at fossil fuels

46
Q

What are the 3 types of symbiosis? List examples

A
  • mutualism (two species benefit each other)
    ie. Bee and flower
  • Commensalism (one species benefits while the other is unaffected)
    ie. Whale and barnacles
  • Parasitism (one species lives/feeds on a host species
    ie. human and tapeworm
47
Q

Does life depend on the hydrosphere and why or why not?

A

Life depends on the hydrosphere because all living organisms need water.

48
Q

What is exponential growth?

A

When a species grows RAPIDLY

49
Q

How do carbon deposits form?

A

When carbon is compressed over millions of years

50
Q

What are the four trophic levels

A 
Top- 
Tertiary consumers 
secondary consumers 
primary consumers 
producers
51
Q

What are cultural services?

A

benefits we obtain related to our enjoyment of the environment

52
Q

What is a biome?

A

a large geographical area with similar climate throughout, and dominant types of natural vegetation called the climax community. This is a community of organisms that has a maximum level of productivity

53
Q

How are the dominant plants in a biome determined?

A

By abiotic factors such as temperature, rainfall, and soil conditions

54
Q

What is ecological succession?

A

Sequence of changes in an ecosystem
→ change in the composition of species over time
→ Years or decades
Usually after a disturbance

55
Q

Explain primary succession

A 
Begins with virtually lifeless area without soil then...
	→ Bacteria  -  make soil
	→ Lichens and mosses  -  make soil
	→ grasses
	→ Shrubs 
	→ Trees

**Makes an ecosystem sustainable again after it is completely destroyed

56
Q

Explain Secondary succession

A

Existing community cleared, but base soil is still intact.

→ burning releases nutrients formerly locked up in the tissues of trees

57
Q

What is a mature forest?

A

Representing final stage of natural succession for specific location

58
Q

A disturbance is also a _______

A

natural cycle

Disturbances are often necessary for community development and survival

59
Q

What do fire climax forests do?

A

→ releases nutrients
→ increases biodiversity
→ increases habitats
→ rejuvenates community

60
Q

What is biodiversity

A

The variety of life in a particular ecosystem; also known as biological diversity

61
Q

What is a species richness

A

The number of species in an area

62
Q

What is an extirpated species

A

A species that no longer exists in a specific area

63
Q

What is an endangered species

A

A species facing imminent extirpation or extinction

64
Q

What is a threatened species?

A

A species that is likely to become endangered if factors reducing its survival are not changed

65
Q

What is a species of special concern

A

A species that may become threatened or endangered because of a combination of factors

66
Q

Where does biodiversity tend to be higher?

A

near the equator

67
Q

True or false

Human activities threaten biodiversity

A

TRUE

68
Q

What is an invasive species?

How are they introduced?

A

A non-native species whose introduction negatively impacts ecosystems

Invasive species have been introduced intentionally and accidentally

69
Q

What are the negative effects of invasive species?

A

may negatively affect our health and the economy

70
Q

How can invasive species be controlled?

A

using mechanical, chemical, or biological methods

Science Unit Test (2 decks)

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