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CatTheStripes
on FreezingBlue Flashcards.
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Biodegradation means?
The break down of dead organic matter
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Consumers means?
An organism that eats other organisms
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Decomposers means?
Organisms that break down waste or dead organisms and change them into nutrients
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Food chain means?
Flow of energy from plant to animal and animal to animal
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Food pyramid means?
The loss of energy from each trophic level to the next
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Food web means?
The feeding relationships within an ecosystem
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Producers mean?
Organisms that produce carbohydrates during photosynthesis
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Trophic level means?
Steps in a food chain that show feeding and niche relationships
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Cellular respiration means?
The process of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
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Denitrification means?
When nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere
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Nitrification mean?
The process of turning ammonium into nitrate
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Photosynthesis means?
When carbon dioxide enters the leaves of plants and reacts with water to make carbohydrates and oxygen
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Sedimentation means?
When soil and decaying organic matter accumulate in layers to make sedimentary rock
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Weathering means?
When rocks are broken down into smaller fragments
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Bioaccumulation means?
The gradual build up of synthetic and organic chemicals
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Bioremediation means?
The use of organisms to break down chemical pollutants
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Heavy metals mean?
Metallic elements with high density's
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Keystone species means?
Species that greatly affect population numbers and health of an ecosystem
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Parts per million (ppm) means?
A measurement of chemical accumulation; 1 ppm means 1 particle mixed with 999 999 other particules
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PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls) means?
Synthetic chemicals containing chlorine used to make plastics and other industrial products
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What is biomass?
Total of living plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria in anarea
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Why are plants called producers?
They "produce" food during photosynthesis, in the form of carbohyrates
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What role do herbivores have in a food pyramid?
The more herbivores, the more carnivores that can be supported
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What happens to the food energy taken in by an organism?
Supports cellular respiration, growth, reproduction, waste matter, and death
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How much energy is lost from producers to secondary consumers?
99% energy lost
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What is the main difference between food chain and food webs?
Webs showing feeding relationship and chains show energy
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Why do you not gain weight every time you eat?
Food is turned to energy
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What is a nutrient store?
Accumulation of nutrients in the atmosphere, ocean, and land masses
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How can human activities affect a nitrogen cycle?
Increase of nutrients before they can be replenished
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Where is carbon stored on earth?
Land vegetation, ocean plants,land and ocean animals, atmosphere, coal deposits, and oil and gas deposit's
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What human activities have an affect on the carbon cycle?
Driving vehicles, urban expansions, an burning fossil fuels
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What is nitrogen fixation?
The process of nitrogen gas being converted into compounds containing nitrate or ammonium
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Where does nitrogen fixation take place?
In the atmosphere, soil, and in water bodies
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What human activities contribute excess nitrogen into ecosystems?
Power plants, sewage treatment, clearing forests, and burning grasslands
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What is acid precipitation?
Dissolved nitrogen compounds in clouds fall back to earth as rain
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What is eutrophication?
When excess nitrogen result in increased plant production and decay
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How is phosphorus stored in ecosystems?
As phosphate in phosphate rocks and sediments on the ocean floor
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What human activities contribute to excess phosphate in ecosystems?
Mining and treated sewage
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In what form is carbon stored in the ocean?
In its dissolved form or carbon dioxide
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How can lightning benefit an ecosystem?
Fixing the nitrogen in the atmosphere
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How does a chemical bio accumulate in an organism?
Going into the fats
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What are Persistent Organic Pollutants?
Carbon containing compounds
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In the past, how was lead introduced to ecosystems?
Insecticides, paint, gasoline, batteries, and electronics
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How does Cadmium enter the environment?
Rock weathering, volcanoes, and forest fires
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What are some natural sources of mercury?
Volcanoes, geothermal springs, and rock weathering
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Why are amphibians disappearing?
Prolonged drought, ultraviolet radiation, habitat loss, pollution, over hunting, parasites, and disease caused by viruses and fungi
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What effect does DDT have on humans?
On our blood from mosquitoes with disease, and from the food we eat
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What are three health effects of methylmercury?
Affects nerve cells, the heart, kidneys, lungs, and suppresses the immune system
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