Ecosystems Week 3

Question 1

Ecosystem Service

Answer 1

The process by which life supporting resources such as clean water, timber, fisheries, and agricultural crops are produced

Question 2

Provision

Answer 2

A good produced by an ecosystem that humans can use directly

Question 3

Aquaculture

Answer 3

The farming of fish, shellfish, and seafood

Question 4

Watershed

Answer 4

All the land in an area that drains into a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland

Question 5

Keystone species

Answer 5

a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

Question 6

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

Answer 6

The total amount of chemical energy that is stored by plants as carbon-containing sugars via photosynthesis. GPP = NPP + R

Question 7

Respiration

Answer 7

The process by which organisms release chemical energy from oxygen-containing
molecules. R = GPP - NPP

Question 8

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

Answer 8

The rate of energy storage by photosynthesizers in a given area, after subtracting the energy lost to respiration. NPP = GPP - R

Question 9

Euphotic zone

Answer 9

The uppermost layer of the ocean where most photosynthesis takes place

Question 10

Disphotic zone

Answer 10

Between 200 and 1,000 meters (656 and 3,281 feet) deep, dimly lit.

Question 11

Aphotic zone

Answer 11

The layer of the ocean where no light at all penetrates, depths are more than 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). This comprises over 90 percent of the entire ocean area on Earth.

Question 12

Biomass

Answer 12

the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area or volume.

Question 13

Positive Feedback Loop

Answer 13

A positive feedback loop occurs in nature when the product of a reaction leads to an increase in that reaction. If we look at a system in homeostasis, a positive feedback loop moves a system further away from the target of equilibrium. It does this by amplifying the effects of a product or event and occurs when something needs to happen quickly.

Question 14

Negative Feedback Loop

Answer 14

A negative feedback loop occurs in biology when the product of a reaction leads to a decrease in that reaction. In this way, a negative feedback loop brings a system closer to a target of stability or homeostasis. Negative feedback loops are responsible for the stabilization of a system, and ensure the maintenance of a steady, stable state.

Question 15

Upwelling

Answer 15

involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted surface water.

Question 16

Resource partitioning

Answer 16

Using resources in different ways, places, or at different times to reduce the negative impact of competition between species.

Question 17

Parasitism

Answer 17

One organism benefits and the other is harmed.

Question 18

Mutualism

Answer 18

both organisms benefit

Question 19

Commensalism

Answer 19

one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed

Question 20

Turbidity

Answer 20

Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air