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What is a community
a group of various species that live in the same place & interact with one another.
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what is an ecosystem?
a community along with the living and non living enviroment.
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what is a community of organisms?
a web of relationships
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what are examples of biotic factors that affect an ecosystem.
relationships between organisms
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what does biotic describe?
living factors that in an ecosystem. they also include once-living things such as dead organisms & the waste of an organism
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what are abiotic factors
the physical or nonliving factors of an enviroment examples are oxygen, water, rocks, sand, sunlight, temperature & climate.
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what is a habitat?
the place where an organism lives.
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what is biodiversity
the variety of organisms in a given area
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what can have a big influence on biodiversity?
- -physical factors
- -high or low temperatures
- > these lower biodiversity
- -limited food or water
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ecosystems with high biodiversity
are more often able to resist damage
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what is succession
the replacement of one kind of community by another at a single place over a period of time
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what are pioneer species?
the first organisms to appear in a newly made habitat are often called pioneer species. They change the habitat in such a way that other species replace pioneer species. often new species replace pioneer species.
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how does an ecosystem respond to change?
in such a way that the ecosystem is restored to equilibrium.
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what partly determines the species that live in a particular place?
climate
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what is climate?
the average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time
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what is a biome?
a large region characterized by a specific kind of climate & certain kinds of plant and animal communites
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what are 2 key factors of climate that determine biomes
- temperature and precipitation
- precipitation also determines the kinds of species that are found in a biome
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how are earth's major terrestrial biomes grouped?
- by latitude into tropical, temperate, & high- latitude biomes
- latitudes Temperate 30 to 60 degrees tropical near equator 60 degrees or higher high latitude
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how does latitude affect a biome
it affects the amount of solar energy that a biome receives & thus affects the biomes temperate range.
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Tropical Biomes
- because of location all are warm.
- tropical rain forests & savannas & tropical deserts
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tropical rain forests
- receive large amounts of rain & are warm all year.
- they have the greatest biodiversity of any land biome. at least half of earth's species of land organisms live in tropical land forests.
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savannas
tropical grasslands. get less rain then rain forest. long dry season and short wet seasons. the most well known are in eastern africa
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tropical deserts
get very little rain. they have less water & have few plants and animals.
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Temperate biomes
- - have a wide range of temperatures throughout the year
- - temperate grasslands
- -temperate forests
- -temperate deserts
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temperate grasslands
have moderate precipitation & cooler temps. than savannas. often highly productive when used for agriculture.
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temperate forests
grow in mild climates that receive plenty of rain. Deciduous shed leaves in fall because of cold winter. Evergreen do not.
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temperate deserts
receive little precipitation. they have a wide temperature range throughout the year.
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high latitude biomes
- have cold temperatures. coniferous forest in cold wet climates > taiga
- winters are long and cold. most precipitation falls in summer
- tundra gets very little rain so plants are short most water is frozen.
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aquatic ecosystems
- not usually called biomes most often referred to as aquatic ecosystems.
- - organized in fresh water ecosystems, wetlands, estuaries, & marine ecosystems
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fresh water ecosystems
located in bodies of fresh water such as lakes, ponds, & rivers. variety of plants, fish, arthrpods, mollusks, & other inverebrates
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wetlands
provide a link between the land & fully aquatic habitats. water loving plants dominate. many species of birds, fishes, & plants are supported. Important because they moderate flooding and clean water that flows through them..
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estuary
is an area where fresh water from a river mixes w/ salt water from an ocean. productive because they constantly receive fresh nutrients from rivers & the oceans
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marine ecosystem
are found in the salty water of the oceans.
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What is the primary source of energy for an ecosystem?
the sun.
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What doe photosynthetic organisms do?
change light energy from the sun into energy that they can use to grow. examples plants & algae
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What are producers?
the basic food source for an ecosystem.
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What are consumers?
organisms that eat other organisms instead of producing their own food.
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what are decomposers?
are organisms that break down the remains of animals. ex. algae and fungi
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how does energy flow in an ecosystem?
from the sun to the producers to consumers to decomposers.
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what is a trophic level?
Each step in the transfer of energy through an ecosystem.
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what forms a food chain?
In ecosystems energy flowing from one trophic level to the next.
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what is the first trophic level made up of?
producers
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What uses the energy in sunlight to build energy rich carbs.
plants, algae, & some bacteria.
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what is the 2nd trophic level made up of?
herbivores which eat producers.
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what is the 3rd trophic level include?
some carnivores are on the 3rd trophic level because they eat herbivores..
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what is a carnivore?
any animal that eats another animal
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whats on the 4th trophic level?
other carnivores that eat carnivores.
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what are omnivores?
animals that are both herbivores and carnivores, such as bears
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what is a food web?
a complicated interconnected group of food chains.
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Is energy stored at each link in a food web?
yes, but some energy that is used dissipates as heat into the enviroment & is not recycled.
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the 10 % rule
trophic levels starts with Producers with the most energy then herbivores, small carnivores, and then large carnivores.
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what level has the most energy in the pyramid?
the lowest, producers.
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what is an energy pyramid?
a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem's loss of energy which results as energy passes through the ecosystem's food chain is called an energy pyramid.
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what are five of the most important substances for life?
water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, & phosphorus. an ecosystem must be able to cycle these kinds of matter in order to support life.
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what is the water cycle?
continuously moves water between the atmosphere the land and the oceans
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what is the water cycle?
- - water vapor condenses & falls to earths surface as precipitation
- - some of this water percolates in to the soil & becomes groundwater. others runs across the surface or earth into rivers, lakes, & oceans.
- - then, the water is heated by the sun & re-enters the atmosphere by evaporation. Water also evaporates from trees.
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what is transpiration?
process of water evaporating from trees and plants.
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both of these cycles are closely tied together
carbon & oxygen cycles.
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what is the carbon cycle?
the continuous movement of carbon from the nonliving environment into living things & back.
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what play an important role in cycling cartoon & oxygen through an ecosystem.
animals, plants & other photosynthesizing organisms
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Carbon cycle
- -plants use the CO2 in the air to build organic molecules during photosynthesis.
- - during photosynthesis oxygen is released into the surroundings. Many organisms such as animals use this oxygen to help break down organic molecules which releases energy & CO2 then plants can use the CO2 in photosynthesis. Carbon is also released in the air through combustion.
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What is combustion?
The burning of a substance. The burning of fossil fuels releases CO2 in the atmosphere. burning things like oil & coal.
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why must nitrogen be cycled?
must be cycled through an ecosystem so that the nitrogen is available for organisms to make proteins
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what is the nitrogen cycle?
the process in which nitrogen circulates among the air, soil, water, & organisms in an ecosystem.
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nitrogen cycle steps
- most organisms cannot use nitrogen gas. It must be changed into a different form.
- A few bacteria have enzymes that enzymes that can break down N2. These bacteria supply the nitrogen that all other organisms need.
- the bacteria splits N2 & then binds nitrogen atoms to hydrogen to form ammonia NH2. Nitrogen may be fixed by lightening. but more is fixed by bacteria. Nitrogen fixing bacteria lives in the soil & on the rots of some plants. it is also fixed when humans burn fuels in vehicles & industrial plants.
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what is nitrogen fixation?
the process of combing nitrogen w/ hydrogen to form ammonia
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how do plants gets nitrogen?
assimilation. its the process in which plants absorb nitrogen.
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what is ammonification?
nitrogen from animal waste or decaying bodies is returned to the soil by bacteria. Ammonia is then converted to nitrite & then nitrate by the process of nitrification. In denitrification nitrate is changed to nitrogen gas which returns to the atmosphere.
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what is an important part of ATP & DNA
phosphorus & it must be cycled in order for an ecosystem to support life.
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what is the phosphorus cycle?
the movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the surroundings to organisms & then back to the surroundings. it is often found in soil & rocks as calcium phosphate, which dissolves in water to form phosphate. the roots of plants absorb phosphate, humans & animals that eat the plants reuse the organize phosphorus. When they die phosphorus is returned to the soil.
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