BIOL 230 - FINAL

Question 1

What constrains net primary production?

Answer 1

Physical and biotic factors

Question 2

Ecosystem definition

Answer 2

Refers to all the components of an ecological system, biotic and abiotic, that influence the flow of energy and elements.

Question 3

Primary production

Answer 3

Chemical energy generated by autotrophs during photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.

Source of energy for all organisms.

Question 4

How is energy assimilated by autotrophs stored? How is it measured?

Answer 4

Carbon compounds in plant tissues.

Amount of carbon produced.

Question 5

What accounts for the largest movement of CO2 between earth and atmosphere?

Answer 5

Primary production

Question 6

What is gross primary production and what is it controlled by?

Answer 6

Total amount of carbon fixed b y autotrophs and is controlled by climate due its influence on photosynthetic rate and leaf area per unit of ground area.

Question 7

Why does the respiratory costs of adding leaves eventually start to outweigh the photosynthetic benefits?

Answer 7

Due to shading, each added layer of leaves decreases the amount of photosynthesis that occurs?

Question 8

Which type of plant would have high respiratory carbon losses? Why?

Answer 8

Trees, plants with a lot of non-photosynthetic tissues have higher losses.

Question 9

What increases respiration rate?

Answer 9

Higher temperatures so tropical forests have higher respiratory losses.

Question 10

How much carbon that is fixed is used for cellular respiration?

Answer 10

~50%

Question 11

What is NPP and what is it equal to?

Answer 11

The amount of energy captured by autotrophs that results in an increase in biomass.

NPP = GPP - Respiration

Question 12

What conditions lead to a plant allocating more NPP to its roots?

Answer 12

Places where soil nutrients and water are scarce

E.g. Grasslands, deserts, tundras

Question 13

Where on earth is their the highest NPP?

Answer 13

The equator

0 degrees

Question 14

How come at a certain point NPP no longer increases with more precipitation?

Answer 14

At a certain point, heavy cloud cover reduces the amount of light. Nutrients can also be leeched from soils.

Question 15

Secondary production

Answer 15

The energy that is derived from the consumption of organic compounds produced by other organisms.

Question 16

Net secondary production equals?

Answer 16

Ingestion - respiration - egestion(pooping)

Question 17

Allochthonous inputs

Answer 17

Detritus derived from terrestrial organic matter

Question 18

Why is the biomass pyramid of aquatic ecosystems inverted?

Answer 18

The primary produces are phytoplankton with short life spans and high turnover.

Question 19

What factors affect energy flow?

Answer 19

NPP at the base of the food web

Proportion of each trophic level consumed by the one above it

Nutritional content of autotrophs, detritus and prey

Efficiency of energy transfers

Question 20

Which herbivores consume a lower proportion of autotroph biomass?

Answer 20

Herbivores (13%)

Aquatic (35%)

Question 21

Trophic efficiency and it’s three components:

Answer 21

Amount of energy at one trophic level divided by amount of energy at the next lowest trophic level.

Consumption efficiency, assimilation efficiency, and product efficiency

Question 22

Consumption efficiency:

Answer 22

The proportion of available biomass that is ingested by consumers

Question 23

Assimilation efficiency

Answer 23

The proportion of ingested biomass that consumers assimilate by digestion

Question 24

Production efficiency

Answer 24

The proportion of assimilated biomass used to produce the new consumer biomass.

Question 25

Bioaccumulation

Answer 25

Chemicals that aren’t metabolized or excreted, become more concentrated over an organism’s lifetime.

Question 26

Biomagnification

Answer 26

Concentration increases in animals at higher trophic levels, as they consume prey with higher concentrations.

Question 27

Where are nutrients ultimately derived from?

Answer 27

Abiotic sources. Elements are released from rock minerals by weathering.

Question 28

Which have Lower C:N ratios, animals or plants?

Answer 28

Animals

Question 29

Nutrient cycling

Answer 29

Movement of nutrients in ecosystems as they undergo biological, physical and chemical transformations.

Question 30

Mineralization

Answer 30

The process of transforming organic material into ammonium and nitrate.

Question 31

Where is the largest pool of nitrogen in an alpine example?

Answer 31

Detritus

Question 32

Cross -system subsidies

Answer 32

Transforme of materials across ecosystem boundaries. E.g. salmon being eaten by bears.

Question 33

Eutrophication

Answer 33

Too many nutrients

Question 34

Ecosystem function

Answer 34

The physical, chemical and biological processes that transform and translocate energy or materials in an ecosystem. OR The capacity of natural processes and components to provide goods and services that satisfy human needs, either directly or indirectly.

Question 35

Ecosystem services

Answer 35

Benefits that people obtain from ecosystems,s

Question 36

Functional redundancy

Answer 36

The degree to which the loss of a species affects the overall structure and function of an ecosystem.

Question 37

What are the four stages of species invasion?

Answer 37

Arrival (Introduction) Establishment Ecological integration with negative impact Spread

Question 38

Invasive vs introduced species

Answer 38

Invasive species are introduced species whose introduction negatively impacts the environment. Introduced species are species that have been introduced into areas beyond their native range.

Question 39

Propagule pressure

Answer 39

The number of individuals arriving per unit of time.

Question 40

Effect of invasive species on small vs large areas? Why?

Answer 40

The effect of invasive species in large areas is only weakly negative. At large spatial scaled vulnerable species are more likely to have a refuge somewhere. The effect of invasive species in small areas is strongly negative.

Question 41

For a species to respond positively in terms of species richness but negatively in terms of Shannon diversity, what must be true?

Answer 41

The species evenness decreased after invasion.