Pre AP Ecology 1

• What are the two main components of ecosystems?

  Biotic and abiotic components
• What does the term 'biotic' refer to in ecosystems?

  Living things such as plants and animals
• What does the term 'abiotic' refer to in ecosystems?

  Never alive things like sunlight, air, and minerals
• What are the inputs into an ecosystem?

  Solar energy, water, oxygen, CO₂, nitrogen, and other elements/compounds
• What are the outputs from an ecosystem?

  Water, oxygen, CO₂, and nutrient losses
• What is the major driving force of ecosystems?

  Solar energy
• What is a food chain?

  A sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem
• What does each "link" in a food chain represent?

  A trophic level
• What are primary producers?

  Organisms that make their own food from sunlight or chemical energy
• Why are deep sea vent organisms considered the base of every food chain?

  Because they make their own food
• What are primary consumers also known as?

  Herbivores
• What are autotrophs?

  Organisms that make their own food
• What are secondary consumers?

  Animals that eat primary consumers
• What are tertiary consumers?

  Animals that eat secondary consumers
• What do primary consumers eat?

  Primary producers
• What are quaternary consumers?

  Animals that eat tertiary consumers
• What are apex predators?

  Animals that have little or no enemies
• What are detrivores?

  Decomposers that ingest dead material
• What do decomposers feed on?

  Dead things, dead plants, and animal carcasses
• How do decomposers break down organic matter?

  Through chemical means using enzymes
• What happens when any organism dies?

  It is eventually eaten by detrivores and broken down by decomposers
• What is a food web?

  A network of many food chains
• What does a food web represent?

  Feeding relationships in a community
• What do the arrows in a food web indicate?

  The direction of energy flow
• Why must there be more plants than plant-eaters in a food web?

  Because energy is lost at each trophic level
• What is interdependence in ecosystems?

  When one species goes extinct, it can affect an entire chain of other species
• What is nitrogen found in?

  All amino acids and nucleic acids
• In what form is nitrogen available to plants?

  As soil minerals: NH₄ (ammonium) and NO₂ (nitrate)
• What is the atmosphere's nitrogen content?

  Almost 20% nitrogen
• What is nitrogen fixation?

  The process where N₂ is converted into usable forms like NH₃ and NO₂ by bacteria
• How can nitrogen gas be converted into usable forms?

  By bacteria in soil or through lightning
• What happens to ammonia in soil?

  It picks up a hydrogen ion (H⁺) to form ammonium (NH₄⁺)
• What is nitrification?

  The process where ammonia is converted into nitrite by bacteria
• What is the main reaction for nitrification?

  2NH₃ + 3O₂ → 2NO₂⁻ + 2H⁺ + 2H₂O
• What happens to nitrite during nitrification?

  It is converted to nitrate
• What is the process of assimilation?

  Primary producers take in nitrogen compounds from the soil
• How do primary producers use nitrogen compounds?

  In the formation of plant and animal proteins
• What is ammonification?

  The process where organic nitrogen compounds are broken down into ammonia
• What happens during denitrification?

  Nitrogen is converted back into nitrogen gas by bacteria
• What do denitrifying bacteria do?

  They convert nitrates back into nitrogen gas