chapters 1-2

Question 1

what is the biosphere?

Answer 1

the zone that surrounds earth and protects all life. includes all ecosystems.

Question 2

what are the three components of the biosphere?

Answer 2

hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere

Question 3

what does abiotic mean

Answer 3

non-living

Question 4

what does biotic mean?

Answer 4

living

Question 5

what chemicals make up the atmosphere?

Answer 5

oxygen 21%, nitrogen 78%, carbon dioxide 0.004%, argon 0.93%

Question 6

what are the layers of the atmosphere?

Answer 6

troposphere, stratosphere (ozone), mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere

Question 7

what is it called when the same species occupies one habitat?

Answer 7

population

Question 8

what is it called when populations occupy one habitat?

Answer 8

a community

Question 9

what is it called when a community and its physical/chemical environment live together?

Answer 9

an ecosystem

Question 10

what is biodiversity?

Answer 10

the number of species in an ecosystem

Question 11

what is chemosynthesis?

Answer 11

where non-photosynthetic organisms convert inorganic chemicals into organic compounds without the sun

Question 12

what is a chemoautotroph?

Answer 12

an organism that performs chemosynthesis

Question 13

what is an example of an autotroph?

Answer 13

producers

Question 14

what is an example of a heterotroph?

Answer 14

consumers

Question 15

what is detritus?

Answer 15

waste and remains from animals and plants

Question 16

what is a decomposer?

Answer 16

organisms that feed on detritus

Question 17

what is a food chain?

Answer 17

a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another

Question 18

what is a food web?

Answer 18

consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem

Question 19

what is a trophic level?

Answer 19

category of living things defined by how it gains energy

Question 20

what is an autotroph?

Answer 20

an organism that uses the sun’s energy to make its own food

Question 21

what is a heterotroph?

Answer 21

an organism that cannot make its food, so it feeds on other organisms

Question 22

what organisms are in the second trophic level?

Answer 22

primary consumers

Question 23

what organisms are in the third trophic level?

Answer 23

secondary consumers

Question 24

what is an indicator species?

Answer 24

a species that is so sensitive to environmental changes that can display the health of a habitat

Question 25

what is the ozone layer?

Answer 25

a layer in the atmosphere (stratosphere) that protects earth from the sun's uv rays

Question 26

what are greenhouse gasses?

Answer 26

gasses that warm up the earth's temperature by reflecting light energy into the atmosphere

Question 27

what kinds of greenhouse gasses are common?

Answer 27

carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide

Question 28

what kinds of ecological pyramids are there?

Answer 28

numbers, biomass, and energy

Question 29

what is albedo?

Answer 29

how reflective a surface is

Question 30

what is a chemotroph?

Answer 30

a class of organisms that obtain their energy through the sun and create their own food

Question 31

what is photosynthesis?

Answer 31

the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar

Question 32

what is cellular respiration?

Answer 32

the process of breaking down glucose and releasing energy

Question 33

what is a monoculture?

Answer 33

eliminating all organisms except for one

Question 34

what is the first law of thermodynamics?

Answer 34

energy cannot be created or destroyed

Question 35

what is the second law of thermodynamics?

Answer 35

energy is lost in the form of heat when energy changes form

Question 36

what does the number triangle represent?

Answer 36

the number of organisms at each trophic level (might not look like a pyramid)

Question 37

what does the biomass triangle represent?

Answer 37

the measurement of stored energy

Question 38

what does the energy triangle represent?

Answer 38

how much energy is lost at each trophic level in kj. (~90% lost at each level)

Question 39

what amount of energy is transferred through each level?

Answer 39

10%

Question 40

what is biomagnification?

Answer 40

increase in concentration of a substance. usually DDT

Question 41

what is in the first trophic level?

Answer 41

producers