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| study of how organisms interact with one another and with their non-living environment |
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term for thousands of species that cant be seen with the naked eye |
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| slight variations in individuals among a population |
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| place or environ where a pop normally lives |
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| the area over which we can find a species |
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| a community; biological community |
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| all the populations of the different species living and interacting in an area |
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membrane of air around the planet -troposphere:inner layer; 11 miles above sea level;most of air (N and O) -stratosphere: lower portion has enough ozone to filter out sun's UV radiation |
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consists of earth's water |
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| earth's crust and upper mantle |
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portion of earth in which living organisms interact with one another and with their nonliving environment interconnected |
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| three interconnected factors life depends on |
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-one way flow of high-quality energy -the cycling of matter -gravity (which allows the planet to hold ts atmosphere and causes the downward movement of chemicals in the matter cycles) |
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much of it's energy is reflected or absorbed by chemicals, dust, and clouds in the atmosphere 80% of energy that gets through warms the troposhere and evaporates/cycles water thru biosphere 1% generates wind .01% is used to fuel photosynthesis |
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| natural greenhouse effect |
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most of solar radiation hits the surface of earth; degraded into longer-wavelength infrared radiation which reacts with greenhouse gases in the troposphere radiation causes these molecules to release infrared radiation with even longer wavelengths which reacts with molecules in the air, it increases their kinetic energy and helps the troposphere and earth's surface warm without it the earth would be too cold for life as we know it |
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large regions chracterized by a distinct climate and specific species adapted to it water: aquatic life zones |
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| each population has different tolerance levels for its chemical or physical environment |
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the existance distribution and abundance of a species in an ecosystem are determined by whether the levels of one or more physical or chemical factors fall within the range tolerated by that species |
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| limiting factor principle |
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| too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range of tolerance |
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limiting factors include... |
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land: precipitation; soil nutrients aquatic: temp; sunlight; nutrient availability; dissolved oxygen content; salinity |
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little in air because soil conditions dont allow bacteria to convert to gas;
cycle is slow
phosphate ions found in phosphate salts in terrestrial rock; erosion releases phophorous as phosphate ions which are taken by plant roots
can be lost if washed into streams and deposited as sediment in ocean
limitin factor because most soils contain little phosphate |
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| human affecting phosphorous cycle? |
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-we mine large quantities of phosphate rock for fertilizers
-we reduce phosphate in tropical soils when we cut down forests
-we disrupt aquatic systems with phosphate runoff |
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specialized consumers that recycle organic matter in ecosystems by breaking down dead organic matter or detritus to get nutrients |
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detritus feeders and decomposers that feed on detritus |
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| uses oxygen to convert organic nutrients back into carbon dioxide and water |
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| anaerobic fermentation/fermentation |
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| breakdown of glucose in the absence of oxygen to form methane gas, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, and hydrogen sulfide |
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| Biological diversity/biodiversity |
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one of the earth's most important renewable resources -genetic diversity -species diversity -ecological diversity: variety of ecosystems -functional diversity: biological and chemical processes needed for the survival of the species,communities, ecosystems |
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| percentage of usable energy transferred as biomass from one trophic level to the next |
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| rate at which producers use photosynthesis to store energy minus the rate at which they use some of this stored energy through aerobic respiration |
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| this covering over most land that is a complex mixture of eroded rock, mineral nutrients, decaying organic matter, water, air and living organisms |
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| cross-sectional view of the horizons in soil |
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| surface litter layer/ O horizon |
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| undecomposed/partially decomposed leaves, twigs. crop wastes, animal wastes, fungi |
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| porous mixture of partially decomposed organic matter, called humus, and some inorganic mineral particles |
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O horizon-leaf litter A horizon-topsoil B horizon-subsoil C horizon-parent material; lies on bedrock: unweathered parent rock B&C contain most of a soil's inorganic matter |
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| downward movement of water through soil |
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| water seeps down and dissolves various minerals and organic matter in upper layes, carrying them to lower layers |
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| relative amounts of the different sizes and types of these mineral particles (clay,silt,sand,gravel) |
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evaporation; transpiration; condensation; precipitation; infiltration; percolation; runoff |
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tiny particles on which droplets of water vapor can collect volcanic ash, soil dust, smoke, sea salts, particulate matter |
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| how have humans affected water cycle? |
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1. we withdraw large quantities of fresh water 2. we clear vegetation from land for agriculture, mining, etc. which increases runoff; increase flooding 3. we modify water quality by adding nutrients and other pollutants 4. earth's water cycle is speeding up resulting in warmer climate |
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too much CO2 removed will cool atmosphere; too much generated makes it warmer -fossil fuels:buried deposits of dead plant matter compressed and form coal and oil CO2 dissolves in ocean and taken in by aquatic producers; as ocean warms, some dissolved CO2 returns to atmosphere |
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| How do we affect carbon cycle? |
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-we clear trees/plants that absorb CO2 -we add large amounts of CO2 by burning fossil fuels |
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-N2 gas cant be absorbed by animals -lightening causes N2 and O2 to react and produce nitrogen oxide (NO) -Nitrogen fixation: aquatic/soil/root bacteria fix N2 into ammonia -unabsorbed ammonia can be nitrified into nitrite ions(toxic) and nitrate ions by aerobic bacteria assimilation:plant roots absorb dissolved substances ammonification: decomposer bacteria covert detritus into simpler nitrogen containing inorganic compounds and water-soluble salts -denitrification: nitrogen leaves soil anaerobic bacteris convert back into nitrite and nitrate ions, and then into N2 & N2O |
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| we affect nitrogen cycle? |
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1. add nitric oxide(NO) to atmosphere burning fuel 2. add nitrous oxide (N2O) through anaerobic bacteria on wastes/fertilizers 3. release large amounts of N stored in soils and plants into N gas 4. add excuess nitrates into runoff 5.remove N from topsoil wehn we harvest, irrigate, burn |
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much stored underground in rocks uncluded sulfate salts in ocean sediments
hyrdogen sulfide released from volcanoes and organic matter in swamps, bogs broked down by anaerobic decomposers; poisonous
sulfur dioxidefrom volcanoes; sulfate salts from sea spray dust storms and forest fired
marine algae produce DMS which serve as nuclei; coverted to sulfur dioxide which is converted to sulfur trioxide and sulfuric acid
bacteria convert to sulfide ions |
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-we burn sulfur-containing coal/oil
-we redine sulfur containgin petroleum
-we convert sulfurcontaining metallis mineral oils |
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