Ecology And The Biosphere

Question 1

Ecology

Answer 1

The study of relationships between living organisms and their environment.

Question 2

Biosphere

Answer 2

The regions of surface, atmosphere and hydrosphere of the earth that are occupied by living organisms.

Question 3

What is the Biosphere Composed of?

Answer 3

Atmosphere
Geosphere
Hydrosphere

Question 4

Atmosphere

Answer 4

The mixture of gases that envelope the earth.

Question 5

What is The Atmosphere Composed of?

Answer 5

Eighty percent nitrogen, twenty percent oxygen, one percent of everything else, including carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, and other gases.

Question 6

Geosphere

Answer 6

Factors such are rocks and minerals that make up the earth. Consists of the earths core.

Question 7

Hydrosphere

Answer 7

The sum of water, whether it is in its solid, liquid, or gaseous form.

Question 8

How Energy Enters the Biosphere

Answer 8

Energy from the sun enters the biosphere via photosynthesis.

Question 9

System Classification

Answer 9

The organization and grouping of systems based on shared attributes.

Question 10

Open System

Answer 10

Allows the flow of energy and matter between the system and environment, allowing for change and adaptation over time.

Question 11

Closed System

Answer 11

Allows only the flow energy, restricting the flow of matter. Because of this, the amount of matter does not change, but stays constant in the system.

Question 12

Is the Earth an Open or Closed System?

Answer 12

Respectively closed. Energy exchange and flow can occur in and out of earth, while matter that make up the biosphere remain relatively constant.

Question 13

What is an Exception to Earth Being a Closed System?

Answer 13

Meteorites and atmospheric leakage consisting of hydrogen and helium.

Question 14

What Does the First Law of Thermodynamics State?

Answer 14

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed from one form to another.

Question 15

What Does the Second law of Thermodynanics State?

Answer 15

Energy flows from hotter objects to colder objects, never spontaneously vice versa.

Question 16

Energy and Life

Answer 16

How energy sustains life.

Question 17

Trophic Level

Trophic stands for food

Answer 17

Feeding levels within an ecosystem.

Question 18

What is the Order of Trophic Levels?

Answer 18

Producers
Primary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Tertiary Consumers

Trophic levels can have up to six levels.

Question 19

Producers

Answer 19

Also known as autotrophs, make their own food via the photosynthesis of energy from the sun.

Question 20

How is Energy Stored by Producers?

Answer 20

Via photosynthesis and chemosynthesis

Question 21

What are the Products of Photosynthesis?

Answer 21

Glucose and oxygen, which is stored as biological energy.

Question 22

Chemosynthesis usually occurs in the absence of sunlight.

What is the Source of Energy for Chemosynthesis?

Answer 22

Chemosynthesis uses bacteria, other living things, molecules such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and methane as a source of energy.

Question 23

Consumers

Answer 23

Also known as heterotrophs, rely on producers and other organisms for food since they cannot produce their own.

Question 24

What Categories do Consumers Fall Into?

Answer 24

Primary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Tertiary Consumers

Question 25

Primary Consumers

Answer 25

Are all *herbivores*. These are organisms that feed on producers.

Question 26

Secondary Consumers

Answer 26

Are usually *carnivorous* and *omnivorous*, but *can* be herbivorous. These are organisms that eat primary consumers.

Question 27

Tertiary Consumers

Answer 27

Are on top of the food chain. Usually *carnivorous* and *omnivorous*. These are organisms that eat other carnivores or secondary consumers.

Question 28

True or False: Tertiary Consumers Have no Natural Predators.

Answer 28

True. With the excemption of humans. They are on top of the food chain, meaning they are apex predators.

Question 29

Decomposers

Answer 29

Obtain energy from consuming dead organisms and waste materials.

Question 30

What Categories do Decomposers Fall into?

Answer 30

Decomposers are all primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Question 31

How do Decomposers Help Producers?

Answer 31

Waste produced from decomposers are inorganic molecules, that can be returned to the soil for producers to use.

Question 32

What Happens to Energy After it is Used?

Answer 32

Excreted as waste Used in body tissues for growth and maintenance Lost as heat via cellular respiration

Question 33

How Does Cellular Respiration Contribute to the Production of Heat?

Answer 33

Energy used for warmth, movement, and reproduction is released as heat.

Question 34

# All living things require energy to function and grow. What Happens When Energy is Lost as Heat?

Answer 34

Energy can no longer be used.

Question 35

Food Chains

Answer 35

Illustrates a linear pathway in which energy is exhanged via consumption of primary consumers to higher trophic levels.

Question 36

Food Webs

Answer 36

More *complex* than food chains. Illustrates the interconnection of species and showcases an accurate flow of energy within an ecosystem.

Question 37

The Rule of Ten

Answer 37

As consumers climb the trophic level, they only recieve about *ten percent* of the energy from the source. The *ninety percent* is lost as heat.

Question 38

# Harmful Factors Bioaccumulation

Answer 38

Chemicals from the environment that do not break down quickly can be *digested* by organisms, leading to the *build up* of toxic chemicals in the organism over time as more food from the environment is digested.

Question 39

# Harmful Factors Biomagnification

Answer 39

The *concentration* of these chemicals *increases* at higher trophic levels.

Question 40

Outcomes of Sunlight Hitting The Earth

Answer 40

Reflection Absorption Transmission

Question 41

Reflection

Answer 41

Light that is not absorbed and *redirected* back to space.

Question 42

What is Energy That is Reflected Called?

Answer 42

Infrared Energy.

Question 43

Albedo

Answer 43

The amount of light an object *reflects*.

Question 44

What Can Increase the Albedo of an Object?

Answer 44

Colour. The lighter in colour and object is, the more reflective. Whereas darker colours tend to absorb energy, instead of reflecting it.

Question 45

Absorption

Answer 45

The taking in of light.

Question 46

True or False: A White Car Absorbs More Energy Than a Black Car

Answer 46

False. Since a black car is darker in colour, it will absorb energy, rather than reflect it.

Question 47

Transmission

Answer 47

The measure of how much light *passes* through a material.

Question 48

How is Light Used?

Answer 48

About thirty percent of light is reflected back into space, twenty percent absorbed in the air, and fifty percent absorbed by the Earths surface.

Question 49

What can Affect how Much Light is Hitting the Earth?

Answer 49

Pollution and greenhouse gasses Weather Changes in the surface of the Earth

Question 50

What are the Greenhouse Gasses?

Answer 50

Carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, nitrogen oxides, chlorofluorocarbons

Question 51

How do Greenhouses Gasses Help Keep the Earth Warm?

Answer 51

They are good at *absorbing* infrared energy.

Question 52

What is a *con* to too Much Absorption of Infrared energy

Answer 52

Global warming.