BIOL-1116 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Bioaugmentation, Bioremediation, Introduced Species
18 Mar 2017
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Chapter 55: explain how the first and second laws of thermodynamics apply to ecosystems. The law of conservation of mass states that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Ecosystems are open systems, absorbing energy and mass and releasing heat and waste products: define and compare gross primary production, net primary production and standing crop. Net primary production: gpp minus energy used by primary producers for respiration. Standing crop: the total biomass of photosynthetic autotrophs at a given time: explain why energy flows but nutrients cycle within an ecosystem. Nutrients cycle because matter cannot be destroyed. When an organism dies, it decomposes back into the soil and the nutrients are used by plants. Energy is used at every trophic level, and then converted to a form that is not useable and is lost to the system: explain what factors may limit primary production in aquatic ecosystems.
