BIOL208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Primary Production, Food Web, Soil Fertility

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lemonwater-buffalo122

12 Apr 2016

School

University of Alberta

Department

Biology (Biological Sciences)

Course

BIOL208

Professor

Abu Conteh

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Document Summary

An ecosystem is a biological community as well as all of the abiotic factors influencing that community. Ecosystem ecologists study the biomass production, carbon storage and flow of energy, water, and nutrients through and within ecosystems. Ecosystem ecologists focus on the physical and chemical processes as they do to the biological ones. Sunlight (solar radiation) converted to a usable energy source by plants (photosynthesis) Potential energy: defined as stored energy and the ability to do work. Ecosystems maintain themselves by cycling energy and nutrients obtained from external sources. The low rate of energy transfer between trophic levels makes decomposers generally more important than producers in terms of energy flow. Fixation of energy by autotrophs in an ecosystem: conversion of inorganic energy to organic, ecosystem process ( ecosystem service ) Rate of primary production (primary productivity: amount of energy fixed over a given period of time, gross primary production (gpp) Total amount of energy fixed by autotrophs: net primary production (npp)

Related Questions

The total amount of energy invested in the production of living biomass in a community is that community's

Select one:

a. gross primary productivity

b. net primary productivity

c. gross photosynthetic efficiency

d. net photosynthetic efficiency

Which of the following factors accounts for the largest number of documented extinctions that have occurred in the last 1,000 years?

Select one:

a. Deforestation

b. Habitat fragmentation

c. Pollution

d. Invasive species

In terrestrial ecosystems, the greatest current cause of species endangerment is

Select one:

a. invasive species

b. habitat loss

c. overharvesting

d. pollution

Carbon dioxide has a warming effect on the earth's atmosphere. This is because it absorbs

Select one:

a. ultraviolet radiation coming from the earth's surface

b. visible light coming directly from the sun

c. ultaviolet radiation coming from the sun

d. infrared radiation coming from the earth's surface

The overall productivity of the open ocean has declined as a result of global warming.This is believed to be because

Select one:

a. ocean stratification has intensified

b. cloud cover has increased, reducing sunlight over the ocean

c. higher temperatures have directly inhibited algal photosynthesis

d. the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the ocean has decreased

Positive feedback might occur in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as a result of

Select one:

a. soil decomposers increasing the rate at which they break down organic molecules

b. oceans absorbing more carbon dioxide in the form of bicarbonate ions

c. an increase in the rate at which fossil fuels are formed

d. plants accelerating their growth by taking up more carbon dioxide

Which nitrogen-containing molecules in soil represent a usable source of nitrogen for plants?

Select one:

a. Nitrogenous bases of nucleic acids

b. All of these

c. Ammonium

d. Amino acids

In a tropical forest ecosystem, "edgeâ habitat is considered to be of relatively low quality for conservation purposes because it

Select one:

a. tends to contain more invasive species

b. all of these

c. tends to contain more early-successional species

d. is more exposed to the effects of wind

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BIOL208 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Primary Production, Food Web, Soil Fertility

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