Environmental - Chapter 2 Study Guide

Ecosystem

- A community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. - The ecosystem includes how the type of biome and its' conditions affect the animal and plant life there. - Ecology studies the way abiotic and biotic factors interact in an ecosystem. - Consumers live in ecosystems and use resources in order to survive.

Landscapes

- A group of interacting ecosystems occupying adjacent geographical areas. - Landscapes allow the formulation of crop-growing systems, which could produce goods(agricultural crops such as corn, wheat,etc.) that can be traded(hence providing services) which could result in increased capital, which could raise a region's net GDP. - Landscapes relates to abiotic factors because depending on the conditions, the amount of food produced could vary. For example, if there is heavy rain(abiotic factor), erosion can result which can negatively affect the production of crops.

Microhabitat

- A habitat that is of small or limited extent and which differs in character from some surrounding more extensive habitat. - A tree stump or a dead animals is an example of a microhabitat. - In all ecosystems there is small microhabitats. - A microhabitat is just a very small version of a habitat where smaller species can live .

Biogeochemical Cycle

- A pathway by which a chemical substance moves through both biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) compartments of Earth. - The carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the oxygen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, the sulfur cycle, and the water cycle. - Ecosystems relate to this cycle because elements in the ecosystems go through this cycle as well.

Equilibrial Species

- A reproductive strategy for a species whereby there is a low reproductive rate but good survival of young due to care and protection by adults. Such species often have populations close to the carrying capacity. - If a certain animal has a low reproductive rate, people make a certain strategy so that they don't go extinct - It relates to population growth, because the goal is to increase the population growth. - It relates to biotic potential because, that determines whether or not the species needs to get a higher population.

Endangered

- A species that is at risk of extinction - The manatee is an example of an endangered species. - A predator could cause an animals to become extinct.

Threatened

- A species whose population is declining precipitously because of direct or indirect human impacts. - Cows become threatened by the increase of humans eating them. - Prey: preys often become threatened by predators eating them. - Density Dependent: Species will become threatened by density dependent factors.

Keystone Species

- A species whose role is essential for the survival of many other species in an ecosystem. - A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

Equilibrium

- A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced. - Referring to populations, the condition where births plus immigration are more or less equal to deaths plus emigration over time.

Population Explosion

- A sudden large increase in the size of a population

Resources

- A supply of assets that can be drawn on by someone in need of them. - Trees are an example of resources because organisms benefit from them. - An ecosystem contains different resources. - Biotas benefit from resources and need them to survive.

Entropy

- A thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system. - With increased deforestation, ecosystems may experience great entropy. - Environments may experience heightened entropy due to the synergistic effect, which creates bigger reactions when combining two things. When a habitat experiences great entropy, many of the inhabitants may migrate to calmer habitats.

First Law of Thermodynamics

- A version of the law of conservation of energy, adapted for thermodynamic systems. The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Conditions

- Abiotic factors that vary in time and space but are not used up by organisms - Weather, for example, could affect the production of food. If there is poor weather, crop could be destroyed, therefore reducing the total net production of goods, which could result in less services being able to be produced, which could negatively affect a region's overall GDP level. - Conditions relates to landscapes because if there are harsh conditions, such abiotic factors like rain, can cause a delay in growth of crops, and could ruin the health of the crops because erosion could make the crops weaken and get destroyed. If the soil is negatively affected, then the growth of crops could decrease.

Biosphere

- All living things make up the biosphere - The biosphere is all life on earth - The area of the planet where organisms live, including the ground and the air - For example, the biosphere would include an forest as well as a the lake, trees, and animals inside that forest. - Many different species can live within the biosphere. The species in this biosphere can make up and ecosystem, where living and nonliving organisms live together and have a symbiotic relationship.

Population

- All the organisms of the same group or species, which live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. - Environmentalists study the effects of pollution on the world population. - A population can greatly decrease if they are subjected to circumstances outside of their range of tolerance. - Single populations tend to inhabit one habitat.

S-curve

- An S curve or S-curve describes a sigmoid function, a mathematical function that produces a sigmoid, or "S"-shaped, curve. S Curve or S-curve can also refer to the following: S Curve (art), an art term for a sinuous body position, noted in ancient marble sculpture.

Detritivores

- An animal that feeds on dead organic material, especially plant detritus. - They eat anything decaying or dead, like a dead animal or plant.

Predator

- An animal that naturally preys on others.

Territory

- An area occupied by a single animal, mating pair, or group and often vigorously defended against intruders, especially those of the same species - Top predators fight for territory to raise their young. - Regarding interspecific competition, two different species will fight for territory while intraspecific competition includes the same species fighting for the same territory.

Commensalism

- An association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.

Ecotones

- An ecotone is a transition area between two biomes. It is where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and grassland ecosystems). - For example, climate and precipitation change steadily across continents and up the slopes of mountains. Because these environmental changes are gradual, communities of plants and animals often intergrade through wide, continuous transitions. - The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism correlates to Biotic community because both are a living space for animals and humans. - Is a transitional region, between two adjacent ecosystems that contains some of the species and characteristics of each one and also certain species of its own. This also correlates to Biotic community because is serves as a region that contains species just like a habitat and a Biotic community.

Pathogens

- An infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host - Ebola is an example of an infection disease that can cause harm to humans or the host. - Pathogens could wipe out its prey that could threaten to ruin the community.

Prey

- An organism that is fed on by a predator. - Cows because humans eat them. - Threatened: preys will become threatened by predators. - Community: there is prey in a community.

Density Independent

- Any factor limiting the size of a population whose effect is not dependent on the number of individuals in the population - An example of such a factor is an earthquake, which will kill all members of the population regardless of whether the population is small or large. - The predator of a community could be a factor in the density independent.

Nitrifying Bacteria

- Any of various soil bacteria that change ammonia or ammonium into nitrite or change nitrite into nitrate as part of the nitrogen cycle.

Biomes

- Are regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants. There are terrestrial biomes (land) and aquatic biomes, both freshwater and marine. - Deserts, grasslands, tundra, deciduous forest, and tropical rainforests are all examples of biomes. - Resources vary in different biomes due to abiotic and biotic factors. - An animal's habitat is part of a specific biome.

Amensalism

- Association between organisms of two different species in which one is inhibited or destroyed and the other is unaffected.

Biological Evolution

- Biological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time. Lots of things change over time: trees lose their leaves, mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren't examples of biological evolution because they don't involve descent through genetic inheritance.

Intra-specific Competition

- Competition for resources between members of the same species. - Two tigers fight for meat. - Intraspecific competition leads to a decrease in population growth and for certain species to be endangered.

Inter-specific Competition

- Competition for resources between members of two or more species. - A tiger and a lion fight for food. - Interspecific competition leaves certain prey to be threatened.

Biotic Community

- Describes the interacting organisms living together in a habitat (biotope). - An ant colony is an example of a biotic community. - The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism correlates to Biotic community because both are a living space for animals and humans. - Is a transitional region, between two adjacent ecosystems that contains some of the species and characteristics of each one and also certain species of its own. This also correlates to Biotic community because is serves as a region that contains species just like a habitat and a Biotic community.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

- In any cyclic process the entropy will either increase or remain the same. Entropy: a state variable whose change is defined for a reversible process at T where Q is the heat absorbed. Entropy: a measure of the amount of energy which is unavailable to do work. - When water is boiled the water becomes hot and the heat escapes through steam because it is attempting to become cooler. - The First Law of Thermodynamics relates to the second law because it says how energy is not created or destroyed, but changed in forms such as is heat conversion. - The Law of Conservation of Matter relates to the second law because atoms are often rearranged but not destroyed or created.

Population Growth

- In biology, population growth is the increase in the number of individuals in a population. The population growth rate is the rate at which the number of individuals in a population increases in a given time period as a fraction of the initial population.

Symbiosis

- Interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. - Cattle and cattle egret live in symbiosis with each other. - An example of symbiosis is mutualism.

Nitrogen Fixation

- It is a process in which nitrogen (N2) in the atmosphere is converted into ammonium (NH4+) or nitrogen dioxide (NO. 2), for example. Atmospheric nitrogen or molecular nitrogen (N2) is relatively inert: it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds. - Bacteria convert nitrogen gas into form plants are able to use the nutrients. - Industrial fixation synthetically converts nitrogen into ammonia that plants and other organisms can use which relates to Nitrogen Fixation because they both are converting gases.

Synergistic Effects

- It refers to the interaction between two or more "things" when the combined effect is greater than if you added the "things" on their own (a type of "when is one plus one is greater than two" effect). - Carbon tetrachloride and ethanol are individually are toxic to the liver, but together they produce much more liver injury than the sum of their individual effects on the liver. This is an example of two things coming together to form something greater.

Law of Conservation of Matter

- It states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy (both of which have mass), the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system mass cannot change quantity if it is not added or removed. - When you have an ice cube it melts into a liquid and when it gets heated it becomes a gas. It may disappear to the human eye but it is still there. - The gases that we think dissapeared are actually all still in our ecosystem. - The gases coming out of the plants don't seem like they're there but they're just invisible.

Range of Tolerance

- Just as species have geographic ranges, they also have tolerance ranges for the abiotic environmental conditions. In other words, they can tolerate (or survive within) a certain range of a particular factor, but cannot survive if there is too much or too little of the factor. Take temperature, for example. - Within which an organism or population can survive and reproduce - If an organism exceeds the range of tolerance, than it can no longer provide a sustainable life for itself, thus possibly reducing efforts to produce, as well as dying. - Range of tolerance relates to conditions because if there are harsh conditions, then it is more difficult for an organism or overall population to survive(in other words, lower range of tolerance because they can't keep up with the conditions) - Limiting factor relates because if there are things preventing a population from growing, then there will be less people in the population, which means less people to reproduce, which affects the range of tolerance (negatively because if there's less people, there's less reproduction)

Limiting Factor

- Limiting factors are things that prevent a population from growing any larger. - For example, 10 rabbits may live in a habitat that has enough water, cover and space to support 20 rabbits, but if there is only enough food for ten rabbits, the population will not grow any larger. - Range of tolerance: A limiting factor exceeds the range of tolerance a species can handle causing a decrease in the population. - Biosphere: a limiting factor negatively affects a biosphere, potentially causing the biosphere to become unstable and unbalanced.

Abiotic

- Pertaining to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving - Examples of abiotic factors are water, depth, sunlight, dissolved oxygen; all are factors that are NON-LIVING. - Abiotic factors relate to conditions, and landscapes because if there is a muggy,rainy climate (condition), for example, it is likely that the rain (abiotic factor) is affecting the landscapes production of food by overflowing the land that is filled with crops, causing erosion of the soil, and reducing crop growth.

Photosynthesis

- Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy, normally from the Sun, into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the organisms' activities. - With greater levels of deforestation, less plants will go through photosynthesis, therefore leaving less oxygen available to humans and other animals. - Photosynthesis is a vital process to keep the ecosystem alive. - Plants need an optimum amount of light and carbon dioxide in order for photosynthesis to occur.

Population Density

- Population density (in agriculture: standing stock and standing crop) is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume; it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key geographic term.

K-strategists

- Populations that fluctuate at or near the carrying capacity (K) of the environment in which they reside - Human are an example of K-strategists. - K-strategists differ from R-strategists because K-strategists are live longer and are more involved in parental care.

Producers

- Producers are organisms that can make their own energy through biochemical processes, which are just processes in living things that involve chemical reactions. Also called autotrophs, the usual way producers make energy is through photosynthesis. - They produce oxygen, which other organisms then breathe in, and they absorb carbon. They are also a food source for many animals. - Chemosynthesis and the organisms using it are all classified under producers.

Selective Pressures

- Selective pressure is any phenomena which alters the behavior and fitness of living organisms within a given environment. It is the driving force of evolution and natural selection, and it can be divided into two types of pressure: biotic or abiotic.

Mutualism

- Symbiosis that is beneficial to both organisms involved. - A smaller fish feeding off of the bacteria of a bigger fish represents a mutualistic relationship- the bigger fish is cleaned and the smaller fish is fed. - Species that have important mutualistic relationships are not density independent. - One can measure growth in a community rich in mutualism.

Industrial Fixation

- Synthetically converting nitrogen into ammonia that plants and other organisms can use. - The man-made process of industrial fixation is an attempt to make the world more habitable. - The world population will benefit from industrial fixation because it allows for more breathable air. When the oxygen that plants produce through photosynthesis isn't enough, humans may utilize industrial fixation.

Biota

- The animal and plant life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period. - The biota of a river includes all fish, bacteria, and plant life. - A biota involves studying all of the different factors of a specific ecosystem. - All biotas are located in the biosphere.

Ecology

- The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. - Studying the food chain of a particular environment is considered ecology because it relates to the interactions between living things and their ecosystem. - Those who study ecology study the interactions between different species of animals, as well as the biota as a whole.

Population Growth Rate

- The change in population numbers divided by the time over which that change occurs. - Population growth rate helps determine how much the different species in one area increases. - The population growth rate relates to the population because it measures how much the species in an area increases or decreases. It also relates to the community because the population sample is taken from the community.

Law of Limiting Factors

- The concept of limiting effect of maximum and minimum. Organisms with wide ranges of tolerance of all factors are widely distributed. - The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount of any required factor. - 10 rabbits may live in a habitat that has enough water, cover and space to support 20 rabbits, but if there is only enough food for ten rabbits, the population will not grow any larger. In this example, food is the limiting factor. - If there isn't enough resources, they could be a limiting factor. - If there isn't enough resources in a Biome, it will cause a limiting factor.

Optimum

- The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. - An example or optimum is the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth. - Biomes can be at an optimum point so a certain species can live there. For example, a rain forest is optimum for a frog because of all the rain and moisture.

Nitrogen Cascade

- The detrimental complex of ecological effects brought on by reactive nitrogen that has been added to natural systems by the burning of fossil fuels and the fertilization of agricultural crops. - The process of chemically converting nitrogen gas from the air into compounds such as nitrates or ammonia that can be used by plants in building amino acids and other nitrogen-containing organic molecules. This contrasts with Nitrogen cascade because this does the opposite of what the effect of Nitrogen Cascade. - The zone of stress refers to the area near to the Limits of Tolerance and area beyond the Limits of Tolerance which affects the growth or survival of any living organism. This relates to Nitrogen Cascade because of the burning fuels coming and fertilization of agricultural crops.

Atmosphere

- The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet. - The Greenhouse Effect: Some of the infrared radiation passes through the atmosphere, but most is absorbed and reemitted in all directions by greenhouse gas molecules and clouds. The effect of this is to warm the Earth's surface and the lower atmosphere. - The atmosphere is composed of many layers that make up the whole. They act as a buffer or shield that protects the earth from things like meteors.

Natural Selection

- The evolutionary process whereby the natural factors of environmental resistance tend to eliminate those members of a population that are least well adapted to cope with their environment and thus, in effect, tend to select those best adapted for survival and reproduction.

Limits of Tolerance

- The extremes of any factors that an organism or a population can tolerate and still survive and reproduce. - Temperature is a factor because it can be tolerated by organisms. - An ecosystem has different factors that an organism or population can tolerate. - Biotas are the ones that have the limits of tolerance.

Community

- The group of populations of different species of plants, animals, and microbes living together in one area. - Your neighborhood is considered a community because there are a bunch of different species of abiotic and biotic factors living together in one area. - The community relates to species and population because a population of a species are located in a community.

Synergism

- The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. - An example of synergism is when two species work together and benefit each other as well as themselves. - Synergistic Effects: The effects are caused by the interaction between two or more things to create a more powerful effect than they could create alone. - Abiotic: abiotic factors such as water ,sunlight, and oxygen create a synergism in which an optimal environment for plant growth is made.

Species

- The largest group of organisms where two hybrids are capable of reproducing fertile offspring, typically using sexual reproduction. - A group of closely related organisms that are very similar to each other and are usually capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. The species is the fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus. - Humans and dogs are examples of species. - An organism that feeds exclusively on either plants or animals relates to species because a species is a group of organisms and each of those individual organisms feed on either plants or animals - The total animal and plant life of a particular ecosystem which correlates to species because species have to make up the total animal and plant life and without species there would be no Biota.

Law of Conservation of Energy

- The law of conservation of energy, a fundamental concept of physics, states that the total amount of energy remains constant in an isolated system. It implies that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be change from one form to another. - The law of conservation of energy means that any energy present will never leave the earth. - Energy can never leave the atmosphere due to this law. Energy cannot be destroyed nor created within the biosphere.

Carrying Capacity

- The maximum population a specific species can reach without harming its ecosystem - Represented by K, an animal's carrying capacity can be shown on a graph when it plateaus underneath an asymptote. - K-strategists are specific species whose population fluctuates near its carrying capacity. - If a species is endangered, its total population is well below its carrying capacity.

Reproductive Isolation

- The mechanisms of reproductive isolation or hybridization barriers are a collection of mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes that prevent the members of two different species that cross or mate from producing offspring, or which ensure that any offspring that may be produced are sterile.

Critical Number

- The minimum number of individuals in a population needed to prevent extinction.

Habitat

- The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. - For example, a monkey's habitat is in the forest and a fish's habitat is in the water. - While monkey's live in an habitat that is part of an ecosystem that is also part of biosphere. (There are many smaller parts that make up the bigger, whole, main part.)

Denitrification Group

- The process of reducing oxidized nitrogen compounds present in soil or water to nitrogen gas to the atmosphere, conducted by certain bacteria and now utilized in the treatment of sewage effluents. - The way the molecules come back into the cycle.

Biotic Potential

- The reproductive capacity. The potential of a species for increasing its population and/or distribution. The biotic potential of every species is such that, given optimum conditions, its population will increase. (contrast environmental resistance). - If a certain animal reproduces a lot their population won't have to be controlled. If a species does not reproduce a lot they will go extinct. - It relates to community because a community is full of living organisms who have biotic potentials. - It relates to population growth because animals with high biotic potential result in population growth.

Lithosphere

- The solid outer section of Earth, which includes Earth's crust (the "skin" of rock on the outer layer of planet Earth), as well as the underlying cool, dense, and rigid upper part of the upper mantle. The lithosphere extends from the surface of Earth to a depth of about 44-62 mi (70-100 km). - People mine in the lithosphere to get raw materials. - People often obtain resources from the lithosphere by mining. - All ecosystems contain the lithosphere, which is essential because it supports organisms living on top.

J-curve

- The term J curve is used in several different fields to refer to a variety of unrelated J-shaped diagrams where a curve initially falls, but then rises to higher than the starting point. - To calculate the growth rate of a population undergoing exponential growth, you need to know the number in the population right now, the time period, and the number of offspring individuals can produce in a given amount of time if resources are unlimited.

Hydrosphere

- The total amount of water on the planet. - The ocean is a hydrosphere, because it is made of water and it contains biodiversity and life within it. - While the atmosphere is a major source of carbon and oxygen for organisms, the hydrosphere is a source for hydrogen.

Niche

- The total of all the relationships that bear on how an organism copes with the biotic and abiotic factors it faces. - When different species occupy the same habitat competition may be slight because each species has its own niche.

Zone of Stress

- The zone of stress refers to the area near to the Limits of Tolerance and area beyond the Limits of Tolerance which affects the growth or survival of any living organism. - They would conduct a zone of stress for a plant that they want to know the future growth of it. - Optimum can be used to further know the Zone of stress on an object. A biosphere is essential to make a zone of stress possible.

Consumers

- Those organisms that eat other things. They may eat plants or they may eat animals. - Humans are consumers because they feed on plants and animals. - All consumers live in ecosystems in order to survive and eat. - Consumers have many different types of species even more specific than plants and animals.

Detritus

- Waste or debris of any kind - The dead organic matter, such as fallen leaves, twigs, and other plant and animal wastes, that exists in any ecosystem. - Detritus may provide many with clean-up jobs. - Detritivores feed on detritus. Hydrosphere may wash away detritus.