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Ecology Flashcards

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0
Q

What is the biosphere

A

Contains the combined portions of the planet in which all of life exist including land water and air or atmosphere

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1
Q

Ecology

A

Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment or surroundings

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2
Q

Levels of organization in order

A

Individual population community ecosystem biome biosphere

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3
Q

Species

A

A group of organisms so similar to one another that they can breed and produce fertile offspring

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4
Q

Populations

A

Groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area

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5
Q

Communities

A

Assemblages of different populations that live together in a defined area

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6
Q

Ecosystem

A

Collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place together with their nonliving or physical environment

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7
Q

Biome

A

A group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities

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8
Q

Autotrophs=

A

Producers

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9
Q

Heterotrophs=

A

Consumers

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10
Q

What are the five different types of heterotrophs

A

Herbivores carnivores omnivores detritivores decomposer

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11
Q

Detritivores

A

Eat dead matter

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12
Q

Detritus

A

Dead matter

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13
Q

Trophic level

A

A step in a food chain or food web

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14
Q

Ecological pyramid

A

Diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web

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15
Q

How much of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to organisms at the next trophic level

A

10%

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16
Q

What is the energy pyramid

A

Shows the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level

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17
Q

biomass

A

The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level

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18
Q

Biomass pyramid

A

Represents the total amount of living organic matter and potential food available for each trophic level

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19
Q

Pyramid of numbers

A

shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level

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20
Q

Because each trophic level harvests only about one 10th of the energy from the level below it can support only about

A

One 10th of the amount of living tissue

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21
Q

Evaporation

A

The process by which water changes from liquid form to an atmospheric gas

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22
Q

What are the stages of the water cycle

A

Evaporation or transpiration then condensation then precipitation then run off then seepage then uptake or water goes into the ocean

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23
Q

Nutrients

A

All the chemical substances that an organism needs to sustain life

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24
Carbon is a key ingredient
Living tissue
25
When is carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere
By volcanic activity by respiration by human activities and decomposition of organic matter
26
What is a form that carbon takes in the ocean
CarboNate rocks
27
Nitrogen is needed for all living things in order to produce
Amino acids
28
Nitrogen is also found in the blank of living things
Waste and dead and decaying organic matter
29
Human activity as nitrogen to the biosphere in the form of
Nitrate which is a major component of fertilizers
30
What is nitrogen fixation
The process by which bacteria convert nitrogen gas into ammonia
31
What is Denitrification
The process in which soil bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas
32
Nitrogen fixation can occur in either the
Atmosphere or with bacteria
33
Living things have phosphorus in there
DNA and RNA
34
Phosphorus usually does not enter the atmosphere but instead remains mostly on
Land and rock and soil minerals and in ocean sediments (inorganic phosphate)
35
Phosphate is released because of
Erosion
36
What is primary productivity
Rate at which organic matter is created by producers
37
What is a limiting nutrient
A nutrient that is dominant in an ecosystem but is scarce or cycles very slowly
38
What is an algal bloom
An immediate increase in the amount of Algae and other producers as a result of runoff of a limiting nutrient
39
Weather is
The day-to-day condition of earths atmosphere
40
Climate is
The average year after year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region
41
Greenhouse effect
The situation where heat is retained by this layer of greenhouse gases
42
What is Niche
The full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions
43
What is the competitive exclusion principle
The rules that no 2 species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time
44
What is predation
An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism
45
Symbiosis
Any relationship in which two species live closely together
46
What are the three main types of symbiotic relationships
Mutualism commensalism and parasitism
47
Mutualism
Both species benefit from the relationship
48
Commensalism
One member benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed
49
Parasitism
One organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it
50
Ecological succession
A series of predictable changes that occurs in a community overtime
51
What is primary succession
Succession that occurs on surfaces where no soil exists
52
What are pioneer species
The first species to populated the area during the primary succession
53
What is secondary succession
Occurs after a disturbance of some kind changes existing do without removing the soil (land is cleared or farming is abandoned or when wildfires burn woodlands)
54
Tolerance
Ability to survive and reproduce under conditions that differ from their optimal conditions
55
What is a wetland
An ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface of the soil for at least part of the year
56
What is zonation
The prominent horizontal banding of organisms that live in a particular habitat
57
What are the four important characteristics of population
It's geographic distribution, density ,growth rate, and age structure
58
Population density
The number of individuals per-unit.
59
What are the three things that affect a population size
Number of births, number of deaths , and the number of individuals that enter, or leave the population
60
Under ideal conditions with unlimited resources, a population will grow
Exponentially
61
Logistic growth
Occurs when a populations growth slows or stops following a period of exponential growth
62
Where does the size of the population average at a growth rate of zero
Carrying capacity
63
Limiting factor
A factor that causes population growth to decrease
64
Density dependent limiting factor
Factors that only limit a population when the population density reaches a certain level, are most strong when a population is large and dense
65
Examples of density dependent limiting factors
Competition, predation ,parasitism ,and disease
66
Density independent limiting factors
Affect all populations in similar ways regardless of the population size
67
Examples of density independent living factors
Unusual weather, natural disasters, seasonal cycles, and certain human activities
68
Calorie
The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water 1°C
69
Glycolysis
The process in which one molecule of glucose is broken in half producing two molecules of pyruvic acid a three carbon compound
70
Final stages of cellular respiration occurs in the
Mitochondria
71
In the presence of oxygen glycolysis is followed by the
Krebs cycle and the Electron transport chain
72
Cellular respiration
Releases energy by breaking down glucose and other food molecules in the presence of oxygen
73
What is the equation for cellular respiration
6O2+C6H12O6 -->6CO2+6H2O+Energy Oxygen plus glucose yields carbon dioxide plus water plus energy
74
Chemical energy in food is converted to
ATP
75
Glycolysis starts with blank molecules of ATP and ends with blank molecules of ATP resulting in a net gain of blank ATP molecules
2,4,2
76
Where do four high-energy electrons from glycolysis past to
Electron carrier called NAD+
77
When oxygen is not present glycolysis is followed by
Fermentation
78
Alcoholic fermentation equation
Pyruvic acid plus NADH yields alcohol plus carbon dioxide plus NAD+
79
Lactic acid fermentation has to regenerate
NAD+
80
Lactic acid fermentation equation
Pyruvic acid plus NADH yields lactic acid plus | NAD+
81
Lactic acid is produced in your muscles when
When the body cannot supply enough oxygen to tissues and thus is not able to produce all of the ATP that is required
82
What happens during the Krebs cycle
Pyruvic acid is broken down into carbon dioxide
83
The Krebs cycle begins when
Pyruvic acid produced like glycolysis enters the mitochondrion
84
What are the products of the Krebs cycle
NADH ATP and CO2 , acetyl COA (forms citric acid), FADH2
85
What occurs during electron transport
ADP is converted to ATP

Biology (4 decks)

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