Chapter 56 Flashcards
(27 cards)
Biogeochemical cycles
- Chemicals cycling within ecosystems.
- Affected by both Biotic and abiotic processes.
Energy flow
- Energy is converted to biological energy
- flows through an ecosystem
Ecosystem
Includes all the organisms that live in a particular place,
plus the abiotic environment in which they live
Water Cycling
Water in the atmosphere is a
gas
* Cools and falls to the surface as
precipitation
Flows to ocean or trapped as
Groundwater
Carbon Cycle
flow of carbon from CO2 into plants, then into herbivores, then carnivores, then
carbon is returned to the earth through decomposition by detritivores.
influencing Earth’s climate
First Law of Thermodynamics
energy is neither created nor
destroyed; it changes forms Light.
* Chemical-bond energy.
* Motion.
* Heat.
Second Law of Thermodynamics
- Second Law of Thermodynamics: whenever organisms use chemical-bond or light energy some is converted to heat (entropy)
Autotrophs
“self-feeders” synthesize the organic compounds
of their bodies from inorganic precursors
Photoautotrophs
light as energy source.
Chemoautotrophs
energy from inorganic oxidation
reactions (prokaryotic)
Heterotrophs
cannot synthesize organic compounds from
inorganic precursors
* Animals that eat plants and other animal.
* Bacteria and Fungi that decompose
10% rule
Amount of chemical-bond energy decreases as energy is passed from one trophic level to the next.
Rule of thumb – about 10% of energy at one level made
available to next level
Top-down effects
when effects flow down
Bottom-up effects
when effect flows up
Island Biogeography
Larger islands have more species
Greater Island size -> larger populations -> harder to drive to extinction -> more species at equilibrium
Trophic efficiency
Energy taken in at each
level
MacArthur and Wilson Equilibrium Model
- Further distance to mainland -> less dispersion -> less
species diversity
Biomass
the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area or volume
Gross primary productivity (GPP)
raw rate at which primary producers synthesize new organic matter
* around 1% of all solar energy
Primary producers
autotrophs
Consumers
heterotrophs
Herbivores
first consumer level
Primary carnivores
eat herbivores
Secondary carnivores
eat primary carnivores or herbivores
