Environmental Test 1
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Created by:
madelynsanta19 on October 20, 2010
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57 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Ecology | The study of how organisms interact with one another and with their non-living environment |
| Organism | Any form of life |
| Eukaryotic | Has a distinctive nucleus, all organisms except bacteria and some algae |
| Prokaryotic | No nucleus |
| Species | Groups of organisms that represent one another in appearence |
| Population | A group of interacting indivuals of the same species occupying a specific area |
| Genetic Diversity | Individuals vary slightly in their genetic makeup |
| Habitat | A place or environment where a population normally lives |
| Distribution/Range | The area over which we can find a species |
| Ecosystem | Community of different species interacting with one another and with the physical environment of matter and energy |
| Biosphere | All of Earths ecosystems |
| Atmosphere | A thin envelope or membrane of air around the planet |
| Troposphere | Extends about 17 km above sea level, contains most of the plantes air. Nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (22%) |
| Stratosphere | 17-48 km above the Earths surface containing enough ozone to filter out the Suns harmful ultraviolet radiation |
| Hydrosphere | Contains Earths water |
| Lithosphere | Earths crust and upper mantle |
| Natural green house effect | Heat build-up in the troposphere because of the prescence of certian gasses, called green house gasses. Without this Earth would be nearly as cold as Mars and life could not exist. |
| Range of tolerance | Range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive and grow, develop, and function normally |
| Law of tolerance | The existance, abundance, and distriubution of a species in an ecosystem are determined by whether the levels of one or more physical or chemical factors fall within the range tolerated by species |
| Limiting factor | Single factor that limits the growth, abundance, or distribution of population of a species of an ecosystem |
| Limiting factor principle | Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population of a species in an ecosystem, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range of tolerance for the species |
| Disolved oxygen (DO) content | The amount of oxygen gas dissolved in a given volume of water at a particular temperature and pressure |
| Producers (autotrophs) | Make their own food from compounds obtained from their environment |
| Photosynthesis | Process used by producers that uses the suns energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen and carbohydrates |
| Chemosynthesis | Used by specializeb bacteria to convert simple compounds into complex nutirent compounds without sunlight |
| Consumers (heterotrophs) | Get energy and nutrients by feeding on other organisms and their remains |
| Decomposers | Consumers that recycle organic matter ecosystems. They break down dead organic material or detritus to get nutrients |
| Omnivores | Feed on both plants and animals |
| Detrivores | Feed on detritus |
| Aerobic respiration | Uses oxygen to convert organic nutrients back into carbon dioxide and water |
| Anaerobic respiration/fermentation | The breaking down of glucose in the absence of oxygen |
| Biodiversity | One of the Earths most renewable recources |
| Genetic diversity | The variety of genetic material within a species or a population |
| Species diversity | The number of species present in different habitats |
| Ecological diversity | The variety of terrestrian and aquatic ecosystems found in an area or on the earth |
| Functional diversity | The biological and chemical processes such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species, communities, and ecosystems |
| Trophic level | All organisms that are the same number of energy transfers away from the origional sorce of energy |
| Food web | ... |
| Food chain | ... |
| Biomass | ... |
| Ecological effiency | ... |
| Pyramid of energy flow | ... |
| Gross primary productivity (GPP) | ... |
| Net primary productivity (NPP) | ... |
| Soil | ... |
| Soil horizons | ... |
| Soil profile | ... |
| Humus | ... |
| Infiltration | ... |
| Leaching | ... |
| Soil texture | ... |
| Nutrient cycles/biogeochemical cycle | ... |
| Hydrolic cycle (water cycle) | ... |
| Condensation Nuclei | ... |
| Carbon cycle | ... |
| Nitrogen cycle | ... |
| Sulfur cycle | ... |
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