energy transfers Flashcards
(20 cards)
in any ecoystem, what are plants in a food web?
producers
why are plants a producers in a food web in any ecosystem?
they are able to produce their own carbohydrates using carbon dioxide in the atmospher of water.
between each trophic level in the food web, why is the majority of energy lost ?
due to respiration and exertion
what is the remaining energy used for (that isnt lost between the trophic levels)?
to form biomass
going from the bottom up what is the order of the food web?
secondary predator
primary predator
herbivore
plants
soil
how is the amounf of biomass remianing in an organism measured?
mass of carbon
dry mass of tissue per given area
what does the productivity of an ecosystem depend on?
the abiotic and biotic factors
what will increase the rpoductivity of an ecosystem?
plrenty of light, water, green plants and warmth
maximise the rates of photosyntheisis so more carbohydrates being produced by the plants
what can the amount of carbohydrates being produced by plants be quantified?
GPP and NPP
what does GPP stand for?
gross primary production
what is GPP
the chemical energy stored in plant biomass, in a given area or volume. the total energy resulting from photosynthesis .
what does NPP stand for
net primary production
what is NPP
the chemical energy stored in a plant biomass taking into account the energy that will be lost due to respiration. the energy that is left over that is avlible to the plant to create new biomass and therfor avalile to the next trophic levelin a food web.
what is the NPP eqaution?
NPP=GPP-R
how to work out the net production of consumer(N), such as animals,
N=I-F+R
I=the chemical energy stored in ingested food
F=the chemical energy lost to the environment in faeces and urine.
what is the unit for energy?
kJ and per unit ares and per year
what units are rates of productivity recorded using?
KJ ha-1 year-1
why is energy recorded as per unit area?
to standardize the results to enable enviroments to be compared-it takes into account that diffrent enviroments will vary in size
why is energy recorded per year
to take into account the impact seasons will have on rain,light and heat so it provides and annual average to allow fair comparisons between environments
how can the chemical energy in dry biomass be estimated
caliorimetry
