BozemanScience:EcosystemsGuidedViewing

Name:GalileaPatricio
1:Whatisprimaryproductivity?Whatdowemeasureitin?(units)
Primary Productivity is how much biomass producers are laying down, this is done
by combining energy and matter together. Primary productivity is measured in grams of
carbonpermetersquaredperyear(gC/m
2
/yr).
2:Whatareproducers?Whoarethemainproducersintheocean?Howisthis
measuredinanaquaticenvironment?
Producers are organisms that are able to make their own food through
photosynthesis, a process in which they use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food. The
mainproducersintheoceanarephytoplankton,inanaquaticenvironmentitismeasured
3:Whatisatrophiclevel?Listanddefinethetrophiclevels.(Giveexamples)In
whichdirectiondoesthearrowgoinafoodweb?Explain.
Trophic levels are eating levels which categorizes organisms based on their place
in food chains. The first level consists of the producers which use the suns energy to
sustain itself, these are plants, or photosynthetic organisms such as algae. Trophic level
two are the consumers which eat the producers, such as amphipods. Trophic level three
are the secondary consumers, they survive by eating the primary consumer, an example of
this would be rainbow smelt. The final or tertiary consumers, such as the chinook salmon,
feast on the previous trophic level. The arrows point from the prey to the predator on food
chains.
4:Whatisafoodweb?Howisitdifferentthanfoodchains?
Afoodwebistheconnectionbetweendifferentorganisms.Foodchainsarelinear,
theydemonstrateasingleorganismwhichisthenconsumedbyanotherandsoon.Food
webs,ontheotherhand,includetheconnectionsofpreyandpredatorinanecosystem.
5:Explainthelimitingfactorsforgrowthinecosystems.Explainlogisticgrowth.
The limiting factors in an ecosystem control the number of organisms within an
population. The density of species in an ecosystem can create competition and
environmental factors such as drought can contribute to the limitation of growth in an
ecosystem.Thisandallgrowthislogisticwhichwilleventuallyreachitslimit.
6:Whatisthecarryingcapacity(K)ofanecosystem?
The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the maximum level an ecosystem can
supportapopulation.
7:Whatfactorsaffectthecarryingcapacityofapopulation?Explainhowwolvesandelk
populationsarelinkedandhowtheywillreachequilibrium.
Factors that affect the carrying capacity of a population are competition . Wolves
and elk form a predator prey relationship in which the number or abundance of one
population affects the other. If elk numbers rise so do the number of wolves because there
is enough food to support a bigger population. However, if the density in elk drops, so does
the wolf population. This continues where both populations controls the other and
maintainingeachotherinequilibrium.
8:SummarizethestoryoftheWhitebarkPineandhowhumanscanimpactanentire
ecosystembychoiceswemake(directlyorindirectly).
Whitebark Pine are found in yellowstone park, they produce pine nuts throughout the
year which are collected by squirrels and stored for winter resources. Grizzly bears will eat
these stashes of food. The conflict with these pines are the decreasing numbers as the
environments temperature rises. Global climate change caused and enabled by human
actions is causing harmful impacts to the environment. If the pines keep dying due to rising
global temperatures, they will no longer provide food for squirrels which are then consumed
bygrizzlybears.