Envi-Sci Quiz Prep 10.4. From Energy Flow in Ecosystems Reading Notes

Envi-Sci Quiz Prep 10.4

From

•Energy Flow in Ecosystems Reading Notes

•What is the source of energy plants use to grow?

•THE SUN

• What is the process called whereby the plants convert the sun’s energy into food?

•PHOTOSYNTHISIS

•Where do animals get their energy to grow, move and reproduce?

• They eat the plants or other animals that ate

plants

•SO, originally, where did the all the energy come from that the animals use?

•THE SUN

•What is a producer?

•PLANTS

•What is a consumer?

•ANIMALS

•What chemical source do some deep ocean producers use for energy?

•Thermal Vents

•What are decomposers?

•Fungus and bacteria that eat dead plants and animals.

•Producers are what tropic level?

•The bottom

•Herbivores are what tropic level?

•First level consumers

•Carnivores are what tropic level?

•Second (+)level consumers

•How does your body get the energy out of food?

• CELULAR RESPIRATION

•What is cellular respiration?

•The process cells use to oxidize food to extract it’s energy

•For what do you use most of the energy you obtained through cellular respiration?

• Most of the energy is used just to keep you alive and growing.

•What happens to the excess energy that you don’t use?

•It is stored as fat until you need it.

•How can we trace the transfer of energy through an ecosystem?

•Energy Pyramid

•What is a “food chain”?

•A simplified model of who eats what.

•How is energy lost at each trophic level?

•About 90% of the energy taken in is lost to the processes of cellular respiration and just keeping the organism alive

•How does energy loss affect the types of organisms at each increasing tropic level?

•Fewer individuals can be supported at each increasing level

Drill

• How do decomposers fit into the ecosystem’s energy flow?

• Decomposers can put some energy back into the system when they are eaten

Drill

•How do decomposers help the environment?

•They return nutrients to the soil, and clean up debris that could cause disease or fuel fires

•Why do large hunting animals have super large territories?

•They are at the top of the food and energy pyramid where the energy density is the lowest

Food/Energy Pyramid

REAL Food/Energy Pyramid90% energy loss each level

Population Sampling Lab

• How would the number of samples affect the results?

More Samples

=

Better accuracy

Population Sampling Lab

•How would sample size and population size affect these results?

Bigger samples

=

Better Accuracy

Population Sampling Lab

•What would cause your results to be off from the actual population?

• Random Chance

• Tags cause increased predation

• Tags cause disease

• Hunters don’t report

• Animal habits not considered

•What concerns should biologists have about a species’ habits before they use this method to approximate population size?

• If we are looking in the wrong place at the wrong time, our results will be invalid

• Example: If we are sampling Canadian Geese in the summer in Maryland, while the geese are in Canada

Drill

•Why is a food web more realistic than a food chain?

•Most species eat and are eaten by many different organisms, as depicted in a food web

Drill

•If a food chain were broken, how could that affect the top level consumers?

•All of the consumers above the break would die off.

Keystone Species PPT

•What does a keystone species do?

A keystone species holds the community together. Without it, everything else falls apart

Keystone Species PPT

• When the California sea otter was killed off, what happened to the Sea urchin population?

•It grew out of control because the otter wasn’t there to eat it.

Keystone Species PPT

•What do sea urchins eat in that area?

•The base of the giant kelp plants

Keystone Species PPT

•What happened to the kelp plants?

•They were all killed by the high sea urchin population.

Keystone Species PPT

•What happened to the young and small fish?

•They were eaten or left because there was no kelp forest to hide in.

Keystone Species PPT

•What regulates the number of sea otters that can live in an area?

•The amount of sea urchins it has for food

Keystone Species PPT

•What are interdependent species?

•Species that depend on each other to survive

Keystone Species PPT

•What kills the Monterey Pine Forests, and what carries it to the trees?

•Pine pitch canker, carried by the pine bark beetle

Keystone Species PPT

•What regulates the growth of the beetles?

•The Woodpeckers eat them so they do not become too numerous and kill all the trees.

Keystone Species PPT

•What regulates the number of wood peckers?

•The number of dead trees for them to nest in.

Keystone Species PPT

•What fertilizes the milkweed flowers?

•Monarch butterflies

Keystone Species PPT

•What feeds on the sap of the milkweed plant?

•Monarch butterfly larva

Keystone Species PPT

•Why don’t birds eat the larva?

•They are poisonous from eating the milkweed sap

Drill

•What is natural selection?

• The process where a species attributes are selected for or against by the natural pressures of the environment.

• - - Food supply, competition, weather, etc

•In general, what sort of species reproduces the most quickly?

•Small organisms that are low on the food web and have many predators

•What is a territory?

•An area defended by one or more individuals against other individuals

•What is the primary limiting factor to an area’s carrying capacity?

•The most limited resource

•. What is a population?

• All members of a species in the same area at the same time

•What is a population’s density?

•# of individuals per unit of space or volume

•What is a population’s dispersion?

•How they are spread out in that area

•Clumped

•Random

•Even

•What is a population’s growth rate?

•Births minus deaths

•What is a population’s reproductive potential?

•The fastest rate at which the population can grow under perfect conditions

•What 3 things affect a population’s reproductive potential?

•# of offspring in a liter•# of liters per year•How young they reproduce

•Why do physically larger species reproduce so slowly?

• They have long generation times.

• (length of time before reproducing the first time)

•What is exponential growth?

•Population increases faster and faster

•What is necessary for exponential growth to occur?

•Lots of food and space

•Few predators

•What is an ecosystem’s carrying capacity?

•Maximum population the ecosystem can support

•What happens if the carrying capacity is exceeded?

• Population crashes –

• may recover at lower level

• May die off completely

•What is a “limiting resource”?

•Resource that limits how many individuals it can support

•What is the resource that determines the ecosystem’s carrying capacity?

•The resource in lowest supply

•Why is there competition within a population?

•Limited food,

•Limited shelter

•Limited mates

•What 4 things does a territory provide?

•Space

•Shelter

•Food

•Breeding sites

•How is competition within a population part of natural selection?

•Only those with the competitive traits to survive and reproduce get to pass on their genes to the next generation