Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
APES Ch. 3 Vocab
Ecosystem Ecology - AP Environmental Science, Chapter 3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Producers/autotrophs | Organisms that use the energy of the sun to produce usable forms of energy |
| Photosynthesis | The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose |
| Cellular respiration | The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide, and water |
| Consumers/heterotrophs | Organisms incapable of photosynthesis, must obtain energy by consuming other organisms |
| Primary consumers | Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms |
| Secondary consumers | Carnivores that eat primary consumers |
| Tertiary consumers | Carnivores that eat secondary consumers |
| Trophic levels | Levels in the feeding structure of organisms |
| Food chain | The sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers |
| Food web | A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels, combines multiple food chains |
| Scavengers | Carnivores that consume dead animals |
| Detritivores | Organisms that specialize in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles |
| Decomposers | Fungi or bacteria that recycle nutrients from dead tissues and wastes back into an ecosystem |
| Gross primary productivity | The total amount of solar energy that producers in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time (only 1% of all solar energy) |
| Net primary productivity | The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire (40% of GPP) |
| Biomass | The total mass of all living matter in a specific area |
| Standing crop | The amount of biomass/energy in an ecosystem at a particular time |
| Ecological efficiency | The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another (ranges from 5% to 20%, averages about 10%) |
| Trophic pyramid | A representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels |
| Biosphere | The region of our planet where life resides, the combination of all ecosystems on Earth |
| Biogeochemical cycles | The movement of matter within and between ecosystems |
| Hydrologic cycle | The movement of water through the biosphere |
| Transpiration | The release of water from leaves during photosynthesis |
| Evapotranspiration | The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration |
| Runoff | Water that moves across the land surface and into streams and rivers |
| Macronutrients | The six key elements that organisms need in relatively large amounts: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur |
| Limiting nutrient | A nutrient that is required for the growth of an organism but is available in a lower quantity than other nutrients |
| Leaching | The transportation of dissolved molecules through the soil via groundwater |
| Disturbance | An event, caused by physical, chemical, or biological agents, resulting in changes in population size or community composition |
| Water shed | All land in a given landscape that drains into a particular stream, river, or wetland |
| Resistance | A measure of how much disturbance can affect flows of energy and matter in an ecosystem |
| Resilience | The rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance |
| Restoration ecology | The study and implementation of restoring damaged ecosystems |
| Intermediate disturbance hypothesis | The hypothesis that ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with high or low disturbance levels |
| Instrumental value | Worth as an instrument or tool for accomplishing a goal |
| Intrinsic value | Worth that is independent of any concrete benefit it may provide to humans |
| Provisions | Goods that humans can use directly |
| Nitrogen fixation | Step one in the nitrogen cycle. Organisms convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into ammonia (NH3) and abiotic processes convert it into nitrite (NO3 -). |
| Assimilation | Step two in the nitrogen cycle. Producers take up ammonium or nitrite, and consumers assimilate the nitrogen by eating producers. |
| Ammonification | Step three in the nitrogen cycle. Decomposers in the soil and water break down biological nitrogen compounds into ammonium (NH4+). |
| Nitrification | Step four in the nitrogen cycle. Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonium into nitrite (NO2-), then nitrate. |
| Denitrification | Step five in the nitrogen cycle. In a series of steps, denitrifying bacteria in oxygen-poor soil and stagnant water convert nitrate into nitrous oxide (N2O) and eventually gas. |
Created by:
emilyjane1221
Popular Earth Science sets