Ecology and Biomes (Exam 1)

• 1. Average annual precipitation
• 2. Average annual temperature

The scientific relationship between organisms and their environment

• 1. low variation in temperature
• 2. always wet
• 3. high biodiversity
• 4. high productivity

plant growing on another plant

• 1. seasonal variation in temperature
• 2. low precipitation
• 3. low biodiversity
• 4. low productivity

land sinks "sink holes"

area in shadow od mountains being hit by dry air coming over mountains and being blocked from moisture by mountains

• 1. seasonal variation in temperature (cooler)
• 2. low precipitation (> desert)
• 3. intermediate biodiversity
• 4. intermediate productivty

• 1. seasonal variation in temperature (cooler)
• 2. intermediate to high precipitation
• 3. intermediate biodiversity
• 4. intermediate productivity

• 1. seasonal variation in temperature (short summer)
• 2. intermediate precipitaion (mostly frozen)
• 3. intermediate to low biodiversity
• 4. intermediate to low productivity

• 1. seasonal variation in temperature (low, below freezing most of year)
• 2. low precipitation
• 3. low biodiversity
• 4. low productivity

• 1. lakes & ponds
• 2. wetlands
• 3. streams

• lakes: light can NOT reach the bottom
• ponds: light can  reach the bottom

depth where there is enough light for photosythesis to occur

not enough light for photosythesis to occur

edge of lake with emergent vegetation

area of lake there algae, fish, and zooplankton are able to live

low oxygen, lower light, fish can swim this zone

bottom of pond where scavengers & decomposers live 

• 1. marshes
• 2. bogs
• 3. swamps

have non - woody plants, good water current running through 

woody plants, low current

stagnant, acidic, very slow to no decomposition

beginning of a stream, fast-moving, cold, high oxygen

point where fresh and salt water mix

• 1. Benthic province
• 2. Pelagic province

• 1. Interdidal Zone: where the tide comes in and out 
• 2. Abyssal Plain: the bottom of the ocean, high water pressure, cold, scavengers, no light, includes ocean floor at higher elevation

• 1. Neritic Zone: water that sits on continental shelf, most productive part of ocean, major fisheries
• 2. Oceanic Zone: all open water not on continental shelf, one of most unproductive sections of ocean

where nutrients come from bottom of ocean to surface

• 1. Grazer: begins with photosythentic organisms
• 2. Decomposer: begins with waste and remains

series of interconnected food chains

• 1. Organismic: tied up in the body of an organism
• 2. Environmental: can be sedimentary or gaseous

depiction of the trophic structure of a community; a portrait of who eats whom.

decomposition, respiration

burning fossil fuels, deforestaion

CO₂, Methane, H₂O vapor

• 1. water depth
• 2. How fast water is moving

accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activity (global climate chage)

• 1. bacteria that live in nodules on roots of legumes
• 2. cynobacteria in aquatic ecosystems (blue-green algae)

dentrified by bacteria and released

burning fossil fuels, municipal sewage treatment, large scale livestock production waste, over use of fertilizers