apes chapter 1

This biome is characterized by long dry seasons and is dominated by grasses, shrubs, and grazing animals.

A Savanna

In a given ecosystem, producers convert solar energy into 15,000kcal of chemical energy stored in organic compounds. Which of the following is the most likely amount of energy available to secondary consumers?

B 150kcal

Algae in an aquatic food chain convert solar energy into 93,000 kilocalories of plant tissue. Which of the following values best represents the amount of energy available for primary consumers in the food chain?

B 9,300 kilocalories

Which of the following best describes the movement of energy in an ecosystem?

B Energy is harnessed by producers, and available energy decreases with each trophic level transfer.

Which of the following statements is true of aquatic biomes?

B Freshwater biomes are a vital source of drinking water.

Where is the majority of fresh water found on Earth?

B Ice caps and glaciers

Which of the following best describes a symbiotic relationship?

B Intestinal bacteria inhabit the gut of humans.

How are the phosphorus and nitrogen cycle similar?

B Phosphorus and nitrogen are both required for plant growth.

Which of the following best explains why terrestrial trophic pyramids usually do not have levels higher than tertiary consumers?

C A large proportion of energy is lost as heat as it is transferred up the pyramid, so there is not enough energy available to support another level.

Which of the following pathways indicate how nitrogen is added to the largest nitrogen reservoir?

C Denitrifying bacteria and volcanic activity

Scientists calculated the net primary productivity at two different forest sites. Both forests have the same gross primary productivity. Forest A has a net primary productivity of 1,650kcal/m2/year, and forest B has a net primary productivity of 1,110kcal/m2/year. Which of the following statements is best supported by the data?

C Forest AA producers have lower rates of cellular respiration than forest BB producers.

net primary productivity of an ecosystem

C Net primary productivity is the amount of energy lost through respiration by producers subtracted from the gross primary productivity of an ecosystem.

In a fish species, the number of eggs that hatch and survive for one year varies depending on the number of eggs that were produced. As the number of eggs produced increases past a threshold number, the survival rate of the offspring decreases. Which of the following statements best explains why only a limited number of offspring can survive in a fish population?

C The chance of survival decreases when there is intraspecific competition for resources among surviving yearlings.

Which of the following is the best explanation for why there is such a small amount of phosphorus that moves into aquatic systems?

C There is not a gaseous phase of the phosphorus cycle, and therefore the movement of phosphorus into oceanic reservoirs is very slow.

This biome is warm and wet, with little seasonal variation in temperature and frequent precipitation.

C Tropical rain forest

What best explains why the different warbler species can all have habitats in the same conifer trees?

C Resource partitioning of the seeds reduces competition, and the five different species can live in the same tree.

Which of the following best describes gross primary productivity in an ecosystem?

D Gross primary productivity is the total amount of solar energy captured by producers through photosynthesis over time.

This biome contains plants that are adapted to prevent water loss due to the low average rainfall and high temperatures year-round.

D Desert

Which of the following biomes is best characterized as an area that forms the narrow band along the coast that experiences a range of environmental conditions (including daily changes in sunlight, temperature, and water) ?

D Intertidal zones

According to the diagram, the movement of phosphorus between biological organisms and soil is in a steady state in an undisturbed system. Which of the following best explains the reason for this steady movement?

D Readily available organic phosphorus in the soil is assimilated by plants.

positive feedback loop

a feedback loop in which change in a system is amplified

negative feedback loop

a feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving

commensalism

a relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

parasitism

a relationship between two organisms of different species where one benefits and the other is harmed

mutualism

a relationship between two species in which both species benefit

food chain

a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

food web

a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

autotroph

an organism that makes its own food

primary photosynthesizers in water

are algae, they start the food chain

the major reservoir for phosphorus

are rocks and sediments

major nitrogen reservoir

atmosphere

red and blue light affect ecosystems

by affecting photosynthesis, the photosynthesizers have adapted mechanisms to address the lack of visible light.

biome

characteristic communities of plants and animals that result from, and are adapted to, its climate

symbiosis

close relationship between two species in an ecosystem

major terrestrial biomes

desert, savanna, chaparral, temperate grassland, temperate deciduous forest, temperate coniferous forest, taiga, tundra

freshwater biomes are vital for

drinking water ecosystem services

energy ____ & matter ____

flows, cycles

how does energy flow

from the sun to producers to lowest trophic levels and then upwards to higher trophic levels.

the reservoirs that hold nitrogen

hold nitrogen for a relatively short period of time

reservoirs of carbon

hold those compounds in the cycle for long periods of time, while some hold them for short periods of time. ex: atmosphere, land biomass, ocean, fossil fuels, rocks/soil

ecosystems depend on inflow of energy

in order to maintain their structure of transferring matter between the environment and organisms via biogeochemical cycles.

red light

is absorbed in the upper 1 m of water

biome redistribution

it is dynamic, it has changed in the past and may change again as a result of global climate change

distribution of nonmineral terrestrial resources

it varies because of some combination of climate, geography, latitude and altitude, nutrient availability, and soil

distribution of nonmineral marine resources

it varies because of some combination of salinity, depth, turbidity, nutrient availability, and temperature

freshwater biomes include

lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes

trophic levels

levels of nourishment in a food chain

marine biomes include

oceans, coral reefs, marshland, and estuaries.

10% rule

only 10% of the total energy produced at each trophic level is available to the next level. the amount of energy passed up to the levels of the food pyramid reduces as you go up.

where does the phosphorus cycle occur

only on the ocean and land. no atmospheric components in the cycle.

blue light

only penetrates deeper than 100m in the clearest water

predator

organism that eats another organism

heterotroph

organism that obtains energy from the foods it consumes; also called a consumer

slowest cycle

phosphorous cycle

carbon cycles between

photosynthesis and cellular respiration in living things

nitrogen fixation

process in which atmospheric nitrogen is converted to a form of nitrogen (ammonia) that is available for uptake by plants that can be synthesized into plant tissue

biogeochemical cycle

process in which elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another

the burning of fossil fuels

quickly moves that stored carbon into atmospheric carbon, in the form of CO2

gross primary productivity (GPP)

rate at which ecosystem's producers (usually plants) produce glucose through photosynthesis. measured by energy (kcal) per area (cm2) per time (year)

net primary productivity (NPP)

rate at which producers produce glucose (GPP) minus the rate at which they use some of this energy for cellular respiration(R) formula: GPP-R

primary productivity

rate at which sunlight is converted into organic compound via photosynthesis over a unit of time

algae in marine biomes

supply a large portion of the Earth's oxygen and also taken in CO2 in the atmosphere.

intertidal zone

the area of shoreline between low and high tides

water cycle

the continuous process by which water moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back. in various phases, solid, liquid, gas

carbon cycle

the movement of atoms and molecules containing carbon between sources and sinks

phosphorus cycle

the movement of phosphorus atoms from rocks through the biosphere and hydrosphere and back to rocks.

primary reservoir for water

the oceans, with ice caps and groundwater acting as much smaller reservoirs.

source

the reservoir it starts in

sink

the reservoir that it ends in

competition

the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources

nitrogen cycle

the transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere

how is energy lost

through hear and cellular processes

resource partitioning

using the resources in different ways, places, or at different times- can reduce the negative impact of competition on survival