Science 46-51

Question 1

What does an ecosystem level approach consider in the management of natural resources?

Answer 1

The interconnected relationships between multiple biotic systems

Question 2

Pools=

Answer 2

Amount or quantity

Question 3

Fluxes=

Answer 3

Transfer or flows

Question 4

What are some examples of ecosystem processes?

Answer 4

photosynthesis and decomposition

Question 5

What do ecosystem level studies seek to understand?

Answer 5

The factors that determine the pools and fluxes of material energy in an ecosystem

Question 6

Define ecosystem processes.

Answer 6

Ways that energy and materials are transferred from one pool to another

Question 7

What is the ultimate source of energy?

Answer 7

The sun

Question 8

What are the two forms of energy?

Answer 8

Kinetic and potential

Question 9

Explain the first law of thermodynamics.

Answer 9

Energy cannot be created nor destroyed

Question 10

Explain the second law of thermodynamics.

Answer 10

Energy disperses from being localized to spread out, unless it is prevented from doing so.

Question 11

What are the two major steps of photosynthesis?

Answer 11

Harvesting energy from sunlight and the fixing of carbon to generate carbohydrates

Question 12

What determines the supply of energy to organisms?

Answer 12

The rate of photosynthesis

Question 13

Define autotrophic organisms.

Answer 13

Organisms which produce organic compounds

Question 14

Define primary productivity.

Answer 14

The rate that sunlight is converted by autotrophic organisms via photosynthesis into organic compounds

Question 15

What is Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)?

Answer 15

The total rate of photosynthesis or the total energy obtained by autotrophs.

Question 16

The rate of energy stored after accounting for the energy expended is referred to as…

Answer 16

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

Question 17

What is biomass?

Answer 17

Stored energy found at a given area at a given time

Question 18

What does ecosystem ecology study?

Answer 18

The links between multiple organisms and their physical environment as an integrated system

Question 19

What controls the rates of primary productivity? (In a terrestrial ecosystem)

Answer 19

Temperature, heat, and nutrients

Question 20

We see a pattern of increasing NPP with increasing ______________________.

Answer 20

Nutrient availability

Question 21

What controls primary productivity in an aquatic ecosystem?

Answer 21

Temperature, light, and nutrient availability

Question 22

Light availability decreases with the depth in what?

Answer 22

The water column

Question 23

What perform the majority of the oceans primary productivity?

Answer 23

Free-floating algae, protists, and cyanobacteria

Question 24

What are the two most important nutrients for phytoplankton?

Answer 24

Nitrate and phosphate

Question 25

Define upwelling.

Answer 25

When cold, nutrient rich waters swell up to the surface to replace warm, nutrient lacking water which was previously on the surface

Question 26

Certain bacteria have evolved to live without...

Answer 26

Sunlight

Question 27

What is chemosynthesis?

Answer 27

The process by which microbes create energy by converting carbon molecules and nutrients into organic matter in the absence of sunlight

Question 28

All animals, fungi, and some bacteria are...

Answer 28

Heterotrophs

Question 29

Define heterotrophs.

Answer 29

Consuming plant or animal material for maintenance and growth

Question 30

When heterotrophic organisms produce biomass it is known as?

Answer 30

Secondary production

Question 31

Explain biogeochemical cycles.

Answer 31

Cycles of nutrient movement through ecosystem components

Question 32

What is the key to nutrient recycling?

Answer 32

Decomposition

Question 33

What are the dominant decomposers of dead animal material?

Answer 33

Bacteria

Question 34

What are the dominant decomposers of plant material?

Answer 34

Fungi

Question 35

The Undecomposed organic matter on the soil surface.

Answer 35

Litter

Question 36

Define mineralization.

Answer 36

The process where bond between carbon molecules and inorganic nutrients are broken, making them available for uptake by plant roots

Question 37

Where would decomposition occur at a faster rate?

Answer 37

Areas with warmer temperatures and greater amounts of moisture available

Question 38

What must nitrogen be in the form of in order for plants to absorb it?

Answer 38

Ammonium or nitrate

Question 39

What is nitrogen fixation

Answer 39

The assimilation of nitrogen into organic compounds

Question 40

Where is the phosphate in the earth mainly stored?

Answer 40

Soil and rocks