AP Environmental Science Quick Review Unit 1.pdf

Review of Unit 1 content for APES

1. AP Environmental Science
Quick Review
Unit 1: The Living World
Hosted byBy: Name

2. ●Intros
●1.1 Introduction to Ecosystems
●1.2 Terrestrial Biomes
●1.3 Aquatic Biomes
●1.4 The Carbon Cycle
●1.5 The Nitrogen Cycle
●1.6 The Phosphorus Cycle
●1.7 The Hydrologic (Water) Cycle
●1.8 Primary Productivity
●1.9 Trophic Levels
●1.10 Energy Flow and the 10%

3. Introduction to Ecosystems

Available resources (water, nutrients, light and space) in any given area
will dictate how plants and animals complete.

4. ●Predator- Consuming another organism
●Prey - Eaten by a predator
●Symbiosis- Long term interaction between two species
○Mutualism: ?????? -??????
○Commensalism: ??????-??????
○Parasitism: ??????-??????

●Competition - for space, food, water or mate.
● Resource partitioning - organisms find ways to share!
○Moth/butterfly.

5. Terrestrial Biomes

Ares on Earth have different biomes or environments due to their
location and the amount of water, temperature and sunlight they have.

6. ●Climate - Long term temperature and precipitation.
●Biome - The given climate of an area and the plants and animals that
have adapted to live there.
●Biomes Type - taiga, temperate rainforests, temperate seasonal
forests, tropical rainforests, shrubland, temperate grassland, savanna,
desert, and tundra.
●Distribution of these biomes depends on wind patterns bringing
precipitation and solar radiation levels.

7. Aquatic Biomes

Aquatic biomes are characterized by the conditions and location of water.

8. ●Fresh water - without salt.
○Streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.
●Marine - with salt
○Oceans, Coral reefs, marshlands and estuaries.
●Ocean environments change based on the depth,
temperature, available nutrients.
○Different marine biomes provide varying degrees of
resources to humans.

9. The Carbon Cycle

Carbon makes up all living things and is constantly cycling via
combustion/metabolism and photosynthesis.

10. ●Carbon is stored in organisms beginning with the process of
photosynthesis.
●Carbon is released into air via combustion or metabolism
(cellular respiration).
●Carbon can be stored for millions of years in ‘sinks’ as dead
organisms are buried in the Earth.
○These sinks become fossil fuels like oil, methane and coal.
○When fossil fuels are burned the carbon is released back
into the air.

11. The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is a necessary nutrient for plant growth and is primarily found
as a gas in the atmosphere.

12. ●Nitrogen fixation-
When bacteria in the
soil convert ammonia
into a form that is
suitable for plants to
use.

●Fertilizer- Humans can
artificially introduce
excess nitrogen.

13. The Phosphorus Cycle


Phosphorus is often the limiting factor of growth in many ecosystems
and stored mostly in rocks.

14. ●Limiting factor for plant growth
●Fertilizer - Humans can artificially introduce it
●Eutrophication - excessive plant growth in natural aquatic
ecosystems.

15. The Hydrologic (Water) Cycle


Water move around Earth in solid, liquid and gas forms.

16. ●Powered by the sun
●Very little fresh water by comparison 2.5%
●VERY VERY little available fresh water

17. Primary Productivity


Primary productivity is when plants convert solar energy into organic
materials.

18. ●Gross primary productivity - total rate of photosynthesis
●Net primary productivity- amount stored
●Very high in the top 100m of the ocean.

19. Trophic Levels

Energy flows from one organism to the next as they are consumed.

20. ●Energy moves up at a
rate of 10% each level.
○90% lost as heat.
●Matter flows in cycles.
●This rule can be applied
to human food
consumption and
conservation.