Chapter 5- Environmental Studies

Explain why putting out wildfires may be damaging in the long run.

The fire can help some plants that can only release their seeds after being exposed to extreme heat which animals can then eat. If you put out those fires the animals could potentially go hungry.

List the three stages of the nitrogen cycle.

1. Nitrogen fixation 2. Denitrification 3. Nitrification

Only about ____ of the energy that an organism consumes is transferred to the next trophic level when the organism is eaten

10%

What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?

A food web contains many food chains while a food chain only follows one path as animals find food.

Describe the role that nitrogen-fixing bacteria play in the nitrogen cycle.

Absorb nitrogen and turn it into nitrate

Identify one way that humans are affecting the carbon cycle.

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation

A process by which carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water, and organisms

Carbon Cycle

Which 3 elements are essential for life and follow a recognizable cycle?

Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus

The process of breaking down food to yield energy

Cellular Respiration

Made up of organisms that take over an ecosystem and remain until the ecosystem is disturbed again.

Climax Communities

An organism that gets their energy by eating other organisms, called heterotrophs, or other-feeder. What are some examples?

Consumer Examples.) mice, starfish, elephants, turtles, humans, and ants

What is an example of primary succession in a city?

Creating a restaurant in an area where there was nothing previously, therefore you must create the building, the atmosphere, and attract customers to come and eat your product produced in your newly created environment.

Consumers who get their food by breaking down dead organisms. What are some examples?

Decomposer Examples.) Bacteria and Fungi

Explain how the excess use of fertilizer can affect the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.

Disrupts the nitrogen cycle by contaminating the groundwater and making it more difficult for the plants to absorb the nitrogen and causes the phosphorus cycle to accelerate, resulting in an excess of phosphorus in water and soil.

Describe how energy is transferred from one organism to another.

Each time one organism eats another organism, a transfer of energy occurs.

After a disturbance, organisms in an environment follow a pattern of change over time, known as...

Ecological succession

A sequence in which energy is transferred from one organism to the next as each organism eats another organism

Food Chain

Shows many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem

Food Web

The paths of energy transfer can be followed through...

Food chains, food webs, and trophic levels

Explain the difference between an herbivore and an omnivore.

Herbivores diets contain only plants and omnivore diets contain plants and meat.

Describe the short-term process of the carbon cycle.

Includes relatively quick processes that transfer carbon from one are to another in a matter of years. Example.) photosynthesis and plant and animal respiration

Explain what happens during oil-field succession.

It happens when a plowed field is abandoned due to the stressfulness for plants to grow in the barren soil due to the lack of nurturing surroundings and therefore pioneer species show up first.

Describe how lichens contribute to primary succession.

Lichens breakdown rock to become soil, making the environment livable for plants.

Materials in ecosystems are recycled and reused by...

Natural processes

A process in which nitrogen is cycled between the atmosphere, bacteria, and other organisms

Nitrogen Cycle

The only organisms that can fix atmospheric nitrogen into chemical compounds

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria

The movement of phosphorus from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment

Phosphorus Cycle

Explain why the phosphorus cycle occurs more slowly than both the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle.

Phosphorus rarely occurs as a gas compared to nitrogen and carbon

Energy from the sun enters an ecosystem when a plant uses sunlight to make sugar molecules in this process

Photosynthesis

Describe the two major processes of the carbon cycle.

Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration. Photosynthesis- carbon from carbon dioxide is fixed into carbohydrates Cellular Respiration- carbohydrates are broken down to form ATP and carbon in the form of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere

The first organisms to colonize any newly available area and begin the process of ecological succession

Pioneer species

_______ occurs on a surface where no ecosystem existed before. _______ occurs on a surface where an ecosystem existed before.

Primary Succession Secondary Succession

List two types of ecological succession.

Primary succession and secondary succession

An organism that makes its own food, called autotrophs, or self-feeders. What are some examples?

Producer Examples.) grasses, ferns, cactuses, trees, and algae

Describe the role that producers play in an ecosystem.

Producers use energy from the sun and create the nutrients consumers take in, when they consume the producers, and use as energy.

How do producers and consumers get energy from the sun?

Producers use energy from the sun to create sucrose, glucose, and other compounds that consumers can then use to receive energy from once they eat the producers, therefore indirectly using energy from the sun.

Describe the long-term process of the carbon cycle.

Slow transfers of Carbon from one reservoir to another that occur over thousands to millions of years. Example.) the transformation of carbon into limestone and its release as the rock is weathered

Explain how a pioneer species contributes to ecological succession.

They are the first plants to colonize any newly available area and therefore help the area that had just experienced a disturbance start to grow again.

How do algal blooms harm aquatic ecosystems?

They lead to the deoxygenation of the ecosystem, thus killing fish and other organisms in the ecosystem.

How can humans affect the cycling of materials in an ecosystem?

Through activities such as burning fossil fuels and applying fertilizer to soil

Each step through which energy is transferred in a food chain is known as a...

Trophic Level

How can driving a car affect the carbon cycle?

Uses fossil fuels