Unit 5 - Ecology Power Notes
What does an ecosystem include?
all of the organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks and other nonliving things in a given area.
What does ammonia released into the soil transform into?
ammonium. (nitrogen cycle)
What's an example of an organism?
an alligator.
What is an organism?
an individual living thing.
What may have multiple feeding relationships in an ecosystem?
an organism.
What do energy pyramids compare?
energy used by producers and other organisms on trophic levels.
What do producers provide for other organisms in an ecosystem?
energy.
What do ecologists study?
environments at different levels of organization.
What models the flow of energy in an ecosystem?
food chains and food webs.
Where do producers get their energy?
from non-living resources.
How does the carbon cycle move carbon?
from the atmosphere, through the food web, and returns to the atmosphere.
What does phosphorus leach into?
groundwater from the soil and is locked in sediments.
What are primary consumers?
herbivores that eat producers.
What consumer may be listed at different trophic levels in different food chains.
omnivores.
What do carnivores eat?
only animals.
What do herbivores eat?
only plants.
What are consumers?
organisms that get their energy by eating other living things or once-living resources/
What are the main processes involved in the oxygen cycle?
photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Where is sunlight used as an energy source in most producers?
photosynthesis.
What are examples of biotic factors?
plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.
What is biodiversity?
the assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem.
What is the hydrologic cycle?
the circular pathway of water on Earth.
What are lab experiments not reflective of?
the complex interactions in nature.
What does a food chain follow?
the connection between one producer and a single chain of consumers within an ecosystem.
What does an energy pyramid show?
the distribution of energy among trophic levels.
What do pyramids model?
the distribution of energy and matter in an ecosystem.
What does water cycle through?
the environment.
What does nitrogen move through?
the food web and returns to the soil during decomposition.
Where does phosphorus move through?
the food web and returns to the soil during decomposition.
What percentage of energy is lost in the atmosphere when transferring it?
90%.
What do field experiments not determine?
actual cause and effect.
Where are chemicals used as an energy source in prokaryotic producers?
chemosynthesis.
What cycles through ecosystems?
elements essential for life.
Where do almost all producers obtain their energy from?
sunlight.
What is observation?
the act of carefully watching something over time.
What percentage of the energy at each tier is transferred from one trophic level to the next?
10%.
What does a food web show?
a complex network of feeding relationships.
What does a keystone species form and maintain?
a complex web of life.
What is a community?
a group of different species that live together in one area.
What is a population?
a group of the same species that lives in one area.
What is a biome?
a major regional or global community of organisms characterized by the climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there.
What is a biomass?
a measure of the total dry mass of organisms in a given area.
What is a food chain?
a model that shows a sequence of feeding relationships.
What do field experiments give?
a more accurate picture of natural interactions.
What does life in an ecosystem require?
a source of energy.
What is a keystone species?
a species that has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem.
What is required to support even a few top level consumers?
a vast number of producers.
Where does the phosphorus cycle take place?
at and below ground level.
Why are consumers also called heterotrophs?
because they feed off on other different things.
Why are producers also called autotrophs?
because they make their own food.
What are the tools for direct surveys?
binoculars and scopes.
What do organisms all have?
bodies made of mostly water.
What does every ecosystem include?
both living and nonliving factors.
What do omnivores eat?
both plants and animals.
How is carbon emitted?
by the burning of fossil fuels. (carbon cycle)
How does oxygen indirectly cycle through an ecosystem?
by the cycling of other nutrients.
How is phosphate released?
by the weathering of rocks.
What are carbon sinks?
carbon storage areas for long periods of time. (carbon cycle)
What is the building block of life?
carbon.
What are secondary consumers?
carnivores that eat secondary consumers.
What are tertiary consumers?
carnivores that eat secondary consumers.
What does a food web emphasize?
complicated feeding relationships and energy flow in an ecosystem.
What can be used to describe and model nature?
computer and mathematical models.
What are generalists?
consumers that have a varying diet.
What are specialists?
consumers that primarily eat one specific organism or a very small number of organisms.
What do detritivores eat?
dead organic matter.
What are decomposers?
detritivores that break down organic matter into simpler compounds.
What are the two types of visual surveys?
direct surveys and indirect surveys.
What are direct surveys used for?
easy to spot species.
Why are rain forests becoming less biodiversitable?
human activities are threatening the rain forests.
Where do some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live?
in nodules on the roots of plants or freely in soil. (nitrogen cycle)
Where are experiments performed?
in the lab or in the field.
What are biotic factors?
living things.
What do indirect surveys include?
looking for other signs of their presence.
What can changing a factor in an ecosystem affect?
many other factors.
What cycles in and out of an ecosystem?
matter.
What adds phosphorus into the environment?
mining and agriculture.
What are examples of abiotic factors?
moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, and soil.
What do lab experiments give researchers?
more control.
Where does the nitrogen cycle take place?
mostly underground.
What does nitrifying bacteria change the ammonium into?
nitrate. (nitrogen cycle)
What are abiotic factors?
nonliving things.
Why are consumers not alike?
not all consumers eat the same things.
What do ecological research methods include?
observation, experimentation, and modeling.
What location has the most biodiversity?
rainforests.
What does a food chain link?
species by their feeding relationships.
What are indirect surveys used for?
species that are difficult to track.
What is a biogeochemical cycle?
the movement of a particular chemical through the biological and geological parts of an ecosystem.
What are trophic levels?
the nourishment levels in a food chain.
What does a pyramid of numbers show?
the numbers of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
What is nitrogen fixation?
the process by which bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia. (nitrogen cycle)
What does ecology study?
the relationships among organisms and their environment.
What is ecology?
the study of the interactions among living things, and between living things and their surroundings.
What does modeling allow scientists to learn?
to learn about organisms or ecosystems in ways that would not be possible in a natural or lab setting.
How can observations of populations be done?
visual surveys.
