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Basics of Cycles
Unlike energy, the physical components of ecosystems are passed around and reused within ecosystems the paths of water, carbon, ans soil nutrients as they pass from the environment to living organisms and back form closed biogeochemicalcycles TERM 2
Water Cycle
DEFINITION 2 of all the nonliving components of an ecosystem, water has the greatest influence on the living portion and cycles within an ecosystem in two ways: environmental water cycle: water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and falls to earth as precipitation organismic water cycle: water is taken up by plant roots; after passing through the plant, it evaporates from plant leaves via transpiration TERM 3
Groundwater
DEFINITION 3 In the US more than 96% of freshwater is in the form of groundwater Groundwater occurs in permeable, saturated, underground layers of rock, sand, and gravel called aquifers TERM 4
Carbon Cycle
DEFINITION 4 The earth's atmosphere contains plentiful carbon, present as CO2, and carbon cycles between the atmosphere and living organisms plants trap the carbon in organic molecules by photosynthesis the carbon is returned to the atmosphere by respiration, combination, and erosion. TERM 5
Nitrogen Cycle
DEFINITION 5 Most living organisms cannot use the main form of nitrogen in the atmosphere, N2, gas Two nitrogen atoms of N2, are bound by a triple bond that is hard to break Some bacteria can break this bond, and add the N to H atoms, forming ammonia (NH3)
Rotation
The earth's annual orbit around the sun and its daily rotation on its own axis are important in determining the world climate.-because of the annual cycle and the inclination of the earth's axis, all parts away from the equator experience a progression of seasons TERM 7
Latitude and Elevation
DEFINITION 7 Temperature varies with elevation, with higher elevations becoming progressively cooler At any given latitude, air temperature falls about 6 degrees C for every 1,000-meter increase in elevation When a moving body of air encounters a mountain, it is forced upward. TERM 8
Ocean Circulation effects
DEFINITION 8 El Nino Occurs every two to seven years and is a warning of Pacific waters caused by a shift in winds that normally carry water from east to west. the resulting warming will cause an increase in winter storms to the CA coast and a wetter and colder winter in Florida and Gulf coast areas. TERM 9
Basic ecosystem types (be prepared to
describe an ecosystem/biome)
DEFINITION 9 Ocean Freshwater Land TERM 10
Ocean Ecosystem
DEFINITION 10 The oceans have an average depth of more than 3 km and they are, for the most part, cold and dark. There are 3 main types of ocean ecosystems: shallow water open-sea surface deep-sea waters
Freshwater lakes
Lakes can be dived into two categories, based on their production of organic materials-oligotrophic lakes have little scarce minerals and organic matterbecause they are deeper, they always have deep waters rich in oxygen-eutrophic lakes have an abundant supply of minerals and organic matterthey have little oxygen at deep depths but are re-infused at overturns TERM 17
Land
Eosyems
DEFINITION 17 A biome is a terrestrial ecosystem-each biome is characterized by a particular climate and a defined group of organisms-the biomes differ remarkable from each other0there are seven major and seven minor biomes distributed throughout the earth*biomes that normally occur at high latitudes also follow an altitudinal gradient along mountains TERM 18
Tropical rain forests
DEFINITION 18 They are the richest ecosystems on earth-Communities are very diverse in that each type of organism is often represented by a few individuals TERM 19
Savannas
DEFINITION 19 Grasslands that have widely spaced trees and seasonal rainfall-Transitional biome between tropical rain forest and desert TERM 20
Deserts
DEFINITION 20 Dry places with sparseDeciduous o vegetation-Plants and animals may restrict their activity to favorable times of the year (water present)
Deciduous forests
forests of trees that drop their leaves in the winter-Remnants of the once great forests now remain TERM 22
Taiga
DEFINITION 22 A great ring of coniferous trees that extends across vast areas of North American and Asia-Most of the trees occur in dense stands of one or two species TERM 23
Tundra
DEFINITION 23 Open, often boggy, grassland that occurs in the far north beyond the taiga- Permafrost, or permanent ice, usually exists within 1 meter of the surface. TERM 24
Chaparral
DEFINITION 24 Consists of evergreen, often spiny shrubs and low trees- These communities occur in a "Mediterranean" dry summer climate TERM 25
Polar Ice
DEFINITION 25 Polar ice caps lie over the Arctic Ocean in the north and Antarctica in the South-This region receives almost no precipitation and freshwater in scarce
