Definitions
The study of living things.
What is biology?
The atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
What 4 spheres make up the Earth?
Boreal forest, tundra, grassland, and temperate deciduous forest.
What are the 4 major biomes of Canada.
A sequence of organisms, each one feeding on the next, showing how energy is transferred from one organism to the next.
What is a food chain?
The function a species serves in its ecosystem including: what it eats and how it behaves.
What is ecological niche?
Ecosystems that are natural and self-sustaining.
What are natural ecosystems?
All living organisms that share a region and interact with each other and their nonliving environment.
What is an ecosystem?
The layer of gasses above the Earth's surface.
What is the atmosphere?
Abiotic factors - longer growing seasons than boreal forest, higher temps than boreal forest, fertile soil, and enough precipitation to support grass growth but not enough for trees.
Biotic factors: bison, mice, snakes, hawks, coyotes, grasshoppers, fescue grasses etc.
What is a grassland?
A representation of the feeding relationships within a community.
What is a food web?
The process in which the sun's energy is converted into chemical energy.
CO2 + H2O + Sunlight ------------> C6H12O6 + O2
What is photosynthesis?
Human designed and human impacted environments.
What are engineered ecosystems?
All the organisms that live and interact within an area.
What is a community?
All the water found on earth including lakes, oceans, and groundwater.
What is the hydrosphere?
Abiotic factors: longer growing season than boreal forest, higher temps than boreal forest, fertile soil, and up to 100cm of precipitation a year.
Biotic factors: deciduous trees and other flowering plants, tree and ground squirrels, deer, black bears etc.
What is a temperate deciduous forest?
Energy produced through photosynthesis - able to generate their own energy.
What is a producer?
The process in which energy is released from food. C6H12O6 + O2 -------> CO2 + H2O + Chemical Energy
What is cellular respiration?
An agricultural ecosystem.
What is an agroecosystem?
The ability to maintain balance without interruption, loss of value, and weakening.
What is sustainability?
The zone around Earth where life can exist.
What is the biosphere?
Abiotic factors: low temps, short growing season, permafrost, poor soil quality, low amounts of precipitation - 0-25cm a year.
Biotic factors: rapid-flowering plants, mosses and lichens, caribou, arctic foxes etc.
What is a tundra?
Energy obtained from consuming other organisms - unable to produce their own energy.
What is a consumer?
This ecosystem has a salt concentration of approx 3%.
What is a marine water ecosystem?
Plant nutrients that have come from natural sources and haven’t been chemically altered by humans that are made from plant and animal waste.
What is a natural fertilizer?
Large geographical region that is defined by climate - as well as a specific set of biotic and abiotic features.
What is a biome?
The hard part of the Earth's surface.
What is the lithosphere?
Biotic factors: coniferous trees, seed-eating birds, squirrels, snowshoe hares, black bears, grey wolves etc.
Abiotic factors: variable weather but warm enough there’s no permafrost, fertile soil, and over 30cm a year of precipitation.
What is a boreal forest?
Stored in bonds of chemical compounds, like atoms and molecules.
What is chemical energy?
Fertilizers manufactured by humans.
What is synthetic fertilizer?