what is economic growth measured by?
gross national income (GNI)
what determines a developed country
highly industrialized, high per capita GNI, have 20% of worlds population, have 85% of worlds wealth and income, use over 80% of its natural resources
what determines a developing country?
low to moderate industrialization, low per capita GNI, most are in africa, asia, and latin america, 80% of worlds population
is earth an open or closed system
closed- it receives energy from sun but loses very little matter into space
what does the carbon cycle do?
moves atoms and molecules containing carbon between sources and sinks
what is carbons main reservoir?
the ocean
what does the nitrogen cycle do?
moves atoms and molecules containing nitrogen between sources and sinks processed by bacteria and lightening
what is nitrogen's main reservoir?
the atmosphere
what does the phosphorous cycle do?
movement of atoms and molecules containing phosphorous between sources and sinks
what is phosphorous' main reservoir?
rocks and sediment
where is one place that phosphorous is not present?
the atompshere
what does the hydrologic cycle do?
cycle powered by the sun, moves water in its various liquid, solid, and gaseous phases between sources and sinks
why is the determination of trophic levels important?
ecosystems depend on continuous inflow of high quality energy in order to maintain their structure and function of transferring matter between environment and organisms via biogeochemical cycles
energy is transferred along food chains from one stage to the next. which statement best explains how the energy is transferred?
if a primary producer stores 10,000 kcal of energy, then a tertiary consumer will have 10 kcal of energy available
the energy available to consumers determined by subtracting the energy used by plants from the total energy transformed by the process of photosynthesis
net primary productivity
this rate of reaction can be measured in the dark by determining the amount of oxygen gas consumed in a period of time.
cellular respiration
the total rate of photosynthesis in a given area
gross primary productivity
what represents a carbon sink that holds carbon compounds for the shortest period of time?
vegetation
what represents a carbon source
burning of fossil fuels
what describes the most likely change to terrestrial biomes resulting from warmer average global temperature?
the global distribution of midlatitude biomes, such as grasslands and temperate rain forests, would increase
based on the second law of thermodynamics, how much biomass of phytoplankton would be needed to produce 1 kilogram of large fish in this food web?
1,000 kg
what do the arrows in a food web represent?
the flow of energy