ecological succession
What is the first stage of ecological succession that occurs on bare rock or new land?
What is Primary Succession?
What is the process called when plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen?
What is photosynthesis?
This principle states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed.
What is the Law of Conservation of Energy?
What do we call the role that an organism plays in its environment, including what it eats and where it lives?
What is a niche?
This process occurs when plants take in CO₂ from the atmosphere and convert it into glucose using sunlight.
What is photosynthesis?
After a hurricane destroys a tropical rainforest, why does secondary succession happen faster than primary succession?
What is because soil already exists?
During photosynthesis, plants convert light energy into chemical energy stored in glucose. Describe what happens to this energy when a plant is eaten by an animal.
What is the energy is transferred to the animal (or the animal uses the energy for its life processes)?
This is the study of heat, energy, and how they relate to work and matter.
What is thermodynamics?
This term describes all the different populations of species living and interacting in an area.
What is a community?
When organisms break down glucose to release energy, they produce this gas that returns to the atmosphere.
What is cellular respiration (or CO₂)?
If a forest experiences a small fire that burns only the understory but leaves large trees intact, what type of succession would occur?
What is secondary succession?
In aerobic respiration, glucose reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, and energy. How does the carbon dioxide return to the atmosphere?
What is organisms breathe it out (or it is exhaled)?
This measurement tells us how much disorder or randomness exists in a system.
What is entropy?
This process, occurring over many generations, results in organisms becoming better suited to their environment.
What is natural selection?
This process, where dead organisms and organic matter are broken down by bacteria, releases carbon back into the soil and atmosphere.
What is decomposition?
What is the relationship between species diversity and the stability of a climax community?
What is that higher diversity generally leads to greater stability because there are more species to fill ecological roles?
What is the process called when fuel burns in the presence of oxygen and releases energy and carbon dioxide?
What is combustion (or burning)?
At this temperature, the entropy of a perfect crystal is zero.
What is absolute zero (0 Kelvin)?
What is the term for the variety of all living things in an area?
What is biodiversity?
Burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil releases stored carbon that has been trapped underground for millions of years. What is this process called?
What is combustion (or fossil fuel burning)?
On a glacier that is retreating, bare rock is exposed. Explain how the pioneer community changes the physical environment to allow the next community to establish.
What is that pioneer species (lichens and mosses) break down rock into soil, add organic matter, and increase water retention, creating conditions for plants with deeper roots?
When we burn gasoline in cars, where does the carbon in the carbon dioxide come from?
What is it comes from ancient plants and animals (or fossil fuels)?
This law states that heat flows naturally from hot objects to cold objects.
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics? (or What is the direction of heat flow?)
This biome has the least biodiversity of any ecosystem on Earth.
What is a desert (or tundra)?
This layer of gases in Earth's atmosphere traps heat and is primarily composed of CO₂, which has increased due to human activities.
What is the greenhouse effect (or the atmosphere)?