Humans
How do humans contribute to the Greenhouse effect?
carbon, methane, sulfur etc. they trap the sun’s heat inside the atmosphere and cause it to warm up the earth. Released through combustion, farm animals, and deforestation
Three types of symbiosis.
Parasitism - one organism benefits while the other one is hurt
Commensalism - one organism benefits while nothing happens to another
Mutualism - both organisms benefit
What are the five trophic levels in a detrital food web?
Primary Producer - uses sunlight and inorganic molecules to photosynthesis and create organic molecules for energy
Primary Consumer - eats producers (herbivores)
Secondary Consumer - eats primary consumers (omnivores or carnivores)
Tertiary Consumer - eats secondary consumers (omnivores or carnivores)
Decomposers - eat dead matter and turn it back into inorganic matter
What are the four cycles we learn about and which one isn't necessary for life.
Water. Carbon, Phosphorus, Nitrogen. All of them are necessary because they are the building blocks of life (CHONPS).
What are keystone species?
These species are the backbone of an ecosystem. If you take them out, the ecosystem will be more severely damaged than if you take another, less important species out.
Difference between biomagnification and bioaccumulation
Biomagnification is when the trash accumulates throughout trophic levels while bioaccumulation is when it happens in a single organism.
Intra vs. Interspecific competition
Interspecific Competition - competition between two different species
Intraspecific Competition - competition between a same species
Why can't there be too many trophic levels?
Due to the law of 10, only 10 percent of energy from one level will go to the next. That means that the higher you go, there will be less organisms from a species and that they will have to eat more to survive, so there always has to be more prey than predators.
Explain carbon cycle.
Plants bring in carbon through photosynthesis and it is either stored or converted into oxygen. Animals bring in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. When they die, bacteria and decomposers release the carbon dioxide
Why are larger food webs better?
When an animal has a varied diet, even if one of their prey dies out or its population is reduced, it still has other animals to feed upon. It will still feel the affects but not as bad as it would have been if that were its only food source.
How can humans contribute to conservation efforts?
You can reduce, reuse, recycle. You can not buy things that contribute to deforestation, use sustainable farming practices, renewable energy
What are the three survivorship curves and describe them.
Type I - most live to post-reproductive and then die.
Type II - constant rate of death despite age
Type III - most die pre-reproductive and then live a long time.
Factors that lower prey population
There are too many predators, and they kill the prey, and so there are less predators now
There are too many prey, carrying capacity overshoots, too little prey, predators suffer also because of it.
Explain phosphorus cycle and why it is special and not like other cycles.
Only found in rocks and is released into the soil. Phosphorus fixing bacteria change it to something plants can use and then plants transfer it to animals. Decomposers break it down and re release it when they die. Doesn’t require atmosphere
Density dependent vs. independent factors
Density Independent Factors: weather, natural disaster, happens regardless of population density
Density Dependent Factors: predation, food, space, resources, changes depending on density
stages of succession
2. some plants with bacteria in their roots put nutrients into the soil
3. other trees grow and create even more nutrients and animals enter
4. climax community
What are the two types of growth and which one are humans in?
Exponential growth: as more reproductive pairs are added, the more they reproduce and the faster a population grows
Logistic growth: exponential at first but slows down as it reaches carrying capacity.
Humans are currently in exponential growth but are predicted to enter logistic growth soon.
How much percentage of energy is used for things other than body mass and what is it used for?
90 percent of energy is used up with respiration, excretory waste, released at heat and other things. Only 10 percent is stored as body mass.
Explain nitrogen cycle and why it is bad for farmers to use artifical nitrogen.
Lightning or bacteria fix it to Ammonia. Nitrifying bacteria change it to nitrite and nitrate, which is what plants use. Then it goes to animals and when they die decomposers and bacteria change it back to nitrogen. It can run off into water sources where eutrophication creates an algae bloom and kills the animals in that area.
3 types of distribution and what types of animals use them.
Uniform: solitary, low resources, marks their space
Random: rare, when resources are abundant
Clustered: packs, around resources
What are the 4 cycles and how do humans impact that?
Phosphorus cycle
Phosphorus from rocks is leaked into the soil where phosphate fixing bacteria fix it so that plants can use it. That happens through erosion. Animals eat the plants and acquire phosphorus through that. When they die, decomposers change it back and phosphate fixing bacteria re do it.
Fertilizers are ruining the natural balance and causing eutrophication
Nitrogen cycle
Lighting or nitrifying bacteria fix nitrogen in the atmosphere into something usable by plants. Same thing as phosphoru
Fertilizers cause eutrophication
Carbon cycle
Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, both take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, when they die, they release carbon dioxide
Combustion and deforestation is increasing co2 levels
Water cycle
You know what it is
Humans are polluting the water sources and more freshwater is being turned into salt water or unusable due to pollution
R-selected: low populations, not a lot of competition, type III species, lots of children, little parental care
K-selected: population at or near carrying capacity, a lot of competition, type I species, few children, a lot of parental care
Warm-bloods are worse at conserving energy than cold-bloods because they need to spend energy conserving body heat.
You can calculate by adding up respiration and biomass gain and dividing it by input.
They are part of the carbon cycle, phosphorus cycle, and nitrogen cycle. They take those nutrients from dead animals and plants and convert it back into the atmospheric form. Other bacteria convert it into forms that plants can use, like nitrifying bacteria.
Difference between food chain, grazing food web, and detrital food web.
Food Chain - a straight line, only a small part of the web
Grazing Food Webs - begins with producers and is interconnected
Detrital Food Web - begins with detritus, which is the food for soil organisms like earthworms.