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Botkin & Keller: Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet- 8th Ed.

Chapter #5- Ecosystems: Concepts and Fundamentals Guided Reading Assignment Name: Selena Felix Case Study: Sea Otters, Sea Urchins, and Kelp: Indirect Effects of Species on One Another 1: Define: Community Effect When the interaction between two species leads to changes in the presence or absence of other species or to a large change in abundance of other species, then a community effect is said to have occured. 2: Explain WHY the Sea Otter is considered the Keystone Species in this ecosystem. (Hint: Explain the food chain) While sea otters affect the abundance of kelp, their influence is indirect- they neither feed on kelp nor protect individual kelp plants from attack by sea urchins. But sea otters reduce the number of sea urchins With fewer sea urchins, less kelp is destroyed. With more kelp, there is more habitat from many other species; so sea otters indirectly increase the diversity of species. 3: Why were Sea Otters endangered and how did their numbers rebound? Sea otters were endangered because humans were eating their source of food which was abalone. Sea otters were put under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Mammal Protection Act of 1973 and that is what caused their numbers to rebound. 5.1- The Ecosystem: Sustaining Life on Earth 1: Define Ecosystem Structure An ecosystem has two major parts: nonliving and living. The nonliving part is the physicalchamical environment, including the local atmosphere, water, and mineral soil (on land) or other substrate (in water). The living part, called the ecological community, is the set of species interacting within the ecosystem. 2: What two main processes must occur to maintain an ecosystem? The two processes that must occur to maintain an ecosystem are a cycling of chemical elements and a flow of energy. 5.2- Ecological Communities and Food Chains 1: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web? A food chain is the linkage of who feeds on whom. A food web is a network of who feeds onwhom or adiagram showing who feeds on whom. 2: Define: Trophic Level In an ecological community, all the organisms that are the same number of food-chain steps from the primary source of energy. 3: Define: Autotrophs, Heterotrophs, Carnivores, Herbivores, Decomposeters

Autotrophs: An organism that produces its own food from inorganic compounds and a source of energy. Heterotrophs: Organisms that cannot make their own food from inorganic chemicals and a source of energy and therefore libe by feeding on other organisms. Carnivores: Organisms that feed on other live organisms; usually applied to animals that eat other animals. Herbivores: An organism that feeds on autotrophs. Decmposers: Organisms that feed on dead organic matter. 4: Explain the food web of Yellowstone Hot Springs. Explain each trophic level (include a photo).

1st Trophic Level: Autotrophs- Photosynthetic bacteria and algae 2nd Trophic Level: Herbivores- Ephydrid flies 3rd Trophic Level: Spider mite, Dolichopodid fly, Wasp, Dragon fly, and Killdeer. 4th Trophic Level: Decomposers 5: Explain a pelagic ecosystem. Explain each trophic level (include photos). A pelagic ecosystem is an ecosystem that occurs in the floating part of an ocean or sea, without any physical connections to the bottom of the ocean or sea.

A Closer Look- Land and Marine Food Webs 1: Look at the terrestrial food web. Should we include people within this ecosystems food web? That would place us within nature. OR should we place people outside of the ecosystem, thus separate from nature? I think we should place people outside of the ecosystem, seperate from nature. 5.3- Ecosystems as Systems 1: Why are ecosystems considered to be OPEN systems? Ecosystems are considered to be open systems because energy and matter flow into and out of them.

2: Define: Watershed An area of land that forms the drainage of a stream or river. If a drop of rain falls anywhere within the shed, it can flow out only through that same stream or river. 5.4- Biological Production and Ecosystem Energy Flow 1: Define: Energy An abstract concept referring to the ability or capacity to do work. 2: Explain: Ecosystem Energy Flow- What two ways does energy enter an ecosystem? The flow of energy through an ecosystem-from the external environment through a series of organisms and back to the external environment. Energy enters an ecosystem by two pathways: energyfixed by organisms and moving through food webs within an ecosystem; and heat energy that istransferred by air or water currents or by convection through soils and sediments and warms living things. The Laws of Thermodynamics and the Ultimate Limit on the Abundance of Life 1: The First Law of Thermodynamics is also known as what? Define it. The fist law of thermodynamics is known as the law of conservation of energy states that in any physical or chemical change, energy is neither crated nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another. 2: What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics say? It says that no use of energy in the real (not theoretical) world can ever be 100% efficient. 3: Define Entropy (give an example). The measure of the decrease in order (the disorganization of energy). 4: What is an intermediate system? We can see that an ecosystem must lie between a source of usable energy and a sink for degraded(heat) energy. The ecosystem is said to be an intermediate system between the energy source and the energy sink. 5.5- Biological Production and Biomass 1: What is biomass? The total amount of organic matter in any ecosystem. 2: Define the following: *Biological Production: The capture of usable energy from the environment to produce organic matter (or organic compounds). *Gross Production: The increase in stored energy before any is used. *Net Production:The amount of newly acquired energy stored after some energy has been used. 3: What are the 3 measures that are used for biomass and biological production?

The three measures that are used for biomass and biological production are the quantity of organic material, energy stored, and carbon stored. 4: What is primary production- who carries this out? The production carried out by autotrophs. 5: What is secondary production- who is involved? The production by heterotrophs. 6: Who are chemoautotrophs? Explain- where are they usually found? Some autotrophic bacteria can derive enrgy from inorganic sulfur compunds; these bacteria are referred to as chemosutotrophs. They live in the deep-ocean vents. 5.6- Energy Efficiency and Transfer Efficiency 1: What is energy efficiency? The ratio of output to input, and it is usually further defined as the amount of useful work obtained fromsome amount of available energy. 2: How would energy efficiency look with a wolf and moose population? Explain. Wolf needs energy to travel and hunt so its efficiency is based on how well it will do based on the energyused to eat the moose. 3: What is food-chain or trophic level efficiency? The ration of production of one trophic level to the production of the next-lower trophic level. 4: Generally, how much energy is lost to heat when being transferred between trophic levels? 90% 5.7- Ecological Stability and Succession 1: What is ecological succession? When an ecosystem is able to recover after being disturbed. 2: Compare and contrast primary and secondary succession- give an example of each. Primary-Establishment of ecosystem where it didn't exist previously. Ex. Forest developing on lava flows. Secondary-Reestablishment of ecosystem after disturbance. Both-Processes of succession, involve establishment of an ecosystem. 3: Explain how succession would look in a Dune. Dune-grss shoots appear scattered on the slope, where they emerge from underground runners. 4: Explain how succession would look in a Bog. Open body of water with surface inlets- unsually small streams- but no surface outlet.

5: Explain how succession would look in an old-field. Small plants adapt to the harsh conditions of the clearing. Larger plants will show up eventually which will create a dense forest. 6: Explain how succession would look in a coral reef. Corals settle on solid surfaces and produce a hard polyp of calcium carbonate. As they die, the materialbecomes the surface which new individuals can establish on them. Algae, coral, snails and urchins liveand die on the reef also. Eventually, complex structures result involving many other species. 5.9- How Species Change Succession 1: Explain facilitation in succession and where is it most common? Species change the local environment in ways that make is suitable for another species on later stages. 2: Explain interference in succession and what it can lead to. Situations where the earlier-successional species changes the environment so it's unsuitable for anotherspecies of later-successional stage. 3: What is chronic patchiness? When does this occur? When no species interact through succession. Critical Thinking Issue: Should People Eat Lower on the Food Chain? 1:Why does the energy content decrease at each higher level of a food chain? What happens to the energy lost at each level? Energy decreases at a higher level, because the transfer of energy requires some of the energy tobecome heat. The energy lost becomes heat energy. 2: Why it is appropriate to use mass to represent energy content? It shows how much is needed to fulfill an organisms energy needs. 3: Using the average of 21 kilojoules of energy to equal 1g of completely dried vegetation and assuming that wheat is 80% water, what is the energy content of the 333,000 kg of wheat shown in the pyramid? (show your work). 333,000kg/21=15857g*.80=12686 Joules. 4: Make a list of environmental arguments for and against an entirely vegetarian diet for people. What might be the consequences for the United States agriculture if everyone in the country began to eat lower on the food chain? Pros: Healthy, More energy Cons: Cannot consume the nutrition that is only found in meat, limits what you can eat. 5: How low do you eat on the food chain? Would you be willing to eat lower? Explain.

On the food chain i eat as low as herbivores. Yes, i am willing to eat lower. Study Question: 1: Farming has been described as managing land to keep it in an early stage of succession. What does this mean, and how is it achieved? Farming is the beginning of a new ecosystem. It is achieved by planting smaller plants, which will lead tobigger plants and animals that will make these plants their habitat.

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