Biogeochemical cycles
Why is the water and carbon cycle a cycle?
They keep going around and around and transform and continue to be reused in different molecules (example CO2 being converted to glucose)
What direction do the arrows point?
In the flow of energy producer -> primary consumer
What are 2 things that increase a population size?
Births and immigration
What is ecological succession?
The gradual, ordered process by which the species structure of a biological community changes and develops over time.
What is an estuary?
A body of water where fresh water and salt water meet. It contains brackish water and has high biodiversity.
Why is water polar?
It has 2 opposite charges (oxygen is negative and hydrogen is positive)
What is the only thing that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere?
Plants
What happens if one organism gets removed from a food web?
The entire web can be affected. Over production, not enough food, etc.
What are 2 things that decrease a population size?
Deaths and emigration
What is a pioneer species?
The first organisms to grow in an area
Does the photic or aphotic zone have sunlight?
Photic (photo means light!)
Why is having high heat capacity important?
Aquatic ecosystems remain stable for longer periods of time because it takes a lot of energy to change the temperature of water.
Evaporation
What is a producer? What is a consumer?
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum amount of a population that an ecosystem can hold.
What is an example of a pioneer species found in primary succession?
Secondary?
Lichen and moss in primary
Grasses and weeds in secondary
What 2 ocean zones does the sun not reach?
Aphotic and abyssal
What is a benefit to ice being less dense as a solid?
The frozen surface layer allows the water to stay insulated beneath it allowing organisms to survive in the winter.
Cellular Respiration
Why is only 10% of the energy transferred to the next trophic level?
It is used for metabolic processes and lost as heat.
Give an example of an abiotic and biotic limiting factor.
Abiotic: water, space, temperature, nutrients
Biotic: Food, disease, parasites, humans
What is the end result of succession?
Climax community
Phytoplankton thrive in the photic zone due to them being able to photosynthesize. What 2 things does the photic zone provide for them?
CO2 and sunlight
What is the bond that holds water molecules together?
Hydrogen bonds
Which step in the carbon cycle adds the most and reabsorbs the least?
Industrial emissions (the burning of fossil fuels)
What would happen if an apex predator was removed from a food web?
Populations would increase beyond their carrying capacity and would run out of food, space, etc.
What would happen if a population experiences more birth rates and immigration rather than death rates and emigration?
The population would increase
What would a benefit of secondary succession be?
A fire destroying an overgrown forest allowing for new growth (prescribed burns)
In several lakes in Norway and Sweden the pH of the water decreased to below 5.0 and the salinity levels increased by 15%. Which of the following is MOST likely to happen in these lakes?
Fish and other populations would decline.
What is cohesion and adhesion?
Cohesion is the attraction of the same molecule while adhesion is the attraction between different molecules (water and glass)