ENSC

Ecosystem

A community interacting with its non-living environment

Geosphere Biosphere Principle of sustainability greenhouse effect

Biosphere basics pdf

Europe is warmer than would be expected for similar latitudes because of the Jet Stream.

False

Sea Kelp is a dominant primary producer that provides food and shelter for many other species. It's loss from the ecosystem has cascading impacts through the trophic web of marine ecosystems.

Foundational

molcular water

Hydrosphere basics

Today, biodiversity generally decreases from equatorial to polar regions (Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient or LBG). Select each plausible explanation for this pattern.

- limited dispersal ability across environmental barriers leading to increased speciation in the tropics - more climatic perturbations as you move from the tropics to the poles -low seasonability in the tropics results in species with highly restricted environmental tolerances - history of glaciation near the poles reducing evolutionary time - increased productivity to support higher biomass in the tropics

Over time, competition in a niche either leads each species to specialize in a different way, so as not to use the same resources, or leads one of the competing species to become extinct.

True

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that is necessary for life to exist on earth.

True without the greenhouse effect earth would be too cold to sustain life. But its the strength of the greenhouse effect that is leading to the rapid increase in temperatures we have seen in the last century.

Traditionally, biomes have been characterized and categorized by two variables: [1] (chose from latitude, dominant species or temperature) and [2] (choose from longitude, elevation or precipitation). However, more recently scientists have promoted the idea of incorporating human land use to further classify biomes into new ecological units called [3].Traditionally, biomes have been characterized and categorized by two variables: [1] (chose from latitude, dominant species or temperature) and [2] (choose from longitude, elevation or precipitation). However, more recently scientists have promoted the idea of incorporating human land use to further classify biomes into new ecological units called [3].

[1]temperature [2]precipitation [3]anthromes

food web

a complex pathway that shows the interconnections among various flows of nutrients,and energy through organisms in a system

Population

a group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place

food chain

a one way pathway that describes the flow of nutrients and energy through a system

Specialist species

a speices with with very specific habitat characteristics

Photosynthesis

carbon dioxide + water + solar energy ---> glucose + oxygen

Indicator Species

environmentally sensitive species that can be used as an early warning system of damage to the ecosystem.

Community

populations of different species living in a particular place

Endemic species

species found only in one geographic area

Alpha Diversity

the number of species (i.e., species richness) in an ecosystem

Beta Diversity

the total number of species that are unique to each ecosystem

Removing three species of kangaroo rats changed a desert plain into an arid grassland. In areas without kangaroo rats, grasses filled in between the shrubs, stems and other plant litter accumulated, large-seeded plants replaced those with smaller seeds, snow melted more slowly and the numbers of the other rodents increased significantly. This is an example of what kind of species?

Keystone