Ecosystems
Two species requiring access to the same finite resource within an ecosystem creates this
What is competition?
This trophic level consumes producers
What is primary consumers?
A term used to refer to a place where carbon is stored
What is a carbon sink?
The majority of phosphorus minerals are contained in these major reservoirs
What are rocks and sediments?
The largest sink of nitrogen
What is the atmosphere?
Terms such as acidity, turbidity, hardness, salinity and dissolved oxygen are used to describe this
What is water?
The amount of energy and/or biomass that is transferred from one trophic level to the next
What is 10%?
(per the 10% rule)
This biological process extracts carbon from the atmosphere and produces glucose
What is photosynthesis?
This phase of matter is absent within the phosphorous cycle
What is gas?
The process in which soil bacteria and decomposers convert waste and dead biomass into NH4
What is Ammonification?
The greatest amount of fresh water is found in this source
What are polar ice caps and glaciers?
The rate that solar energy is converted into organic compounds via photosynthesis over a unit of time
What is primary productivity?
This process adds carbon that had been sequestered underground back into the atmosphere
What is combustion?
These are synthetic sources of phosphorus
What are human mining operations and/or uses of man made fertilizers?
The process in which nitrate is reduced and released into the atmosphere in gaseous form
What is denitrification?
These features of an environment are the determining factors in the vegetation patterns of various biomes
(i.e forests having dense vegetation and desserts lacking vegetation)
What is temperature and precipitation?
The equation representing net primary productivity
What is NP = GPP - RL?
Although the oceans of the world can act as a variable carbon sink, this consequence prevents the oceans ability to soak carbon from solving the issue of atmospheric sustainability.
What is ocean acidification?
This term refers to excess nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients causing excess algae growth, this tends to have a negative impact on plants below the surface of the water
What is Eutrophication?
The process converting ammonium and ammonia into nitrites (NO2)
What is nitrification?
The lowest level of a freshwater ecosystem categorized by murky bottoms and nutrient-rich sediments.
What is the benthic zone?
The process that plants use to draw groundwater from their roots up to their leaves, which evaporates through small openings called stomata
What is Transpiration?
As a function of marine ecosystems, these extract CO2 from the ocean and produce calcium carbonate exoskeletons
What are coral reefs and shelled organisms?
This process is responsible for reintroducing phosphorous that had settled back into the cycle
What is geological uplift?
This process sees water drawing nitrates from the soil and carrying them elsewhere
What is leaching?