biosphere chapter 2

  1. what are tropic levels
    • - tropic levels show how energy flows in an ecosystem. 
    • - It can be arranged into pyramids
  2. what are the 3 main types of ecological pyramids
    • - pyramid of numbers 
    • - pyramid of biomass
    • - pyramid of energy
  3. pyramid of numbers in detail
    • - The number of organisms is represented by each tropical level and is usually in a pyramid shape but can take on different shapes occasionally. 
    • - Btw the tropical level in the pyramid of numbers is not based on consumer levels or eating. 
    • - they will be less prey.
    • - population in general
  4. pyramid of biomass
    • - This is the total dried weight of the living materials. ( dehydrated or took the water out of everyone)
    • - and the units are always mass/area
    • - it can be inverted. 
    • - so, biomass pyramids are a snapshot in time. It does not account for the life cycle, life span, or how quickly they are living or dying. 
    • - For instance, Phytoplankton often have less biomass than zooplankton because phytoplankton are relatively short-lived and reproduce very quickly.
  5. pyramid of energy
    • - We use energy when labelling the tropic levels, It will usually be Kilojoules or Kcals )
    • - It can never be inverted because you would be violating the first law of thermodynamics which is energy cannot be created or destroyed but transformed to another form of energy. 
    • -
  6. what is the difference between matter and energy
    energy flows through the biosphere and matter cycles through the biosphere
  7. what are the two that try to manage wildlife populations ?
    • - Alberta fish 
    • - wildlife and ducks unlimited
  8. Monocultures
    • - This is the practice of cultivating one species instead of several. 
    • - For example, farmers planting the same species of wheat results in less biodiversity and more of a threat to the food web.
    • -Historically we have had about 700 different species of plant but now the world only relies on about 20 wheat, and barely corn being the main 5
    • - But we now have research farms to grow many varieties of there crops to obtain the best crop that can survive harsh weather or a pathogen
  9. food web
    • - food webs are more complex than food chains because they showcase the transfer of energy in more detail. 
    • - The more diverse the web, the more stable the environment is. 
    • - Biodiversity is what determines if an ecosystem is more stable or not because they have variety across all of the tropical levels. 
    • - As well as less chances for organisms to actually go extinct
Author
wish_uwereme
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361672
Card Set
biosphere chapter 2
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