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24 Cards in this Set
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Sea Otters/Community Effect
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Sea otters eat sea urchins, which eat kelp, which provides a habitat for many species. So by eating the sea urchins the otters are indirectly increasing the diversity of species in the ocean. This is called the COMMUNITY EFFECT
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Hold fasts
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the base of kelp that keeps it attached to the ground
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Keystone species (otters)
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a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically. (the otters)
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ecosystem
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organisms that interact and function together, interacting through their physical and chemical environments, thus enabling life to persist
(an ecosystem is the minimal entity that has the properties required to sustain life) |
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ecological community
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the living part of an ecosystem structure,
the set of species found in the same place interacting within the ecosystem |
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non-living part of an ecosystem structure
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the physical-chemical environment, including the local atmosphere, water, mineral soil (land) or other substrate (in water).
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Two basic types of ecosystem processes
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cycling of chemical elements and a flow of energy
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chemical cycling
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21 chemical elements are required by at least some form of life, and each chemical element required for growth and reproduction must be available to each organism at the right time, the right amount, and in the right ratio relative to other elements. These elements must be recycled
Waste>food>waste>food |
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2nd ecological community term
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the community consists of all the species found in an area whether or not they are known to interact
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food chain
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the linkage of who feeds on whom
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food web
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a more complicated linkage, which consists of grouped organisms called trophic levels
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trophic levels
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consists of all organisms in a food web that are the same number of feeding levels away from the original energy source (in most ecosystems the sun is the original energy source)
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photosynthesis
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the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.
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autotrophs
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"self-nourishing"
an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. (first trophic level) |
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heterotrophs
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made up of herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers,
an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances |
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herbivores
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organisms that feed on plants, algae, or photosynthetic bacteria(second trophic level)
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carnivores
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meat eaters that feed directly on herbivores (third trophic level)
carnivores that feed on third-level carnivores are in the fourth trophic level and so on |
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decomposers
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those that feed on dead organic material (highest trophic level in an ecosystem)
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pelagic ecosystem
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open ocean ecosystem
algae/plankton<zooplankton/small fish<other fish/invertebrates<killer whales |
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Watershed (valley for water)
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an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.
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ecosystem energy flow
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the movement of energy through an ecosystem from the external environment through a series of organisms and back to the external environment
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two ways energy enters an ecosystem
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1.energy fixed by organisms and moving through food webs within an ecosystem
2.heat energy that is transferred by air or water currents or by convection through soils and sediments and warms living things (warm air traveling over forest>transferred to the soil and organisms) |
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Law of conservation of energy
(first law of thermodynamics) |
in any physical or chemical change, energy is neither created nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another
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erwin schroinger
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famous 20th century physicist, author of "what is life"
claimed "according to the first law of thermodynamics we should be able to recycle energy in our bodies and never have to eat anything |