Exam 21: Ecosystem Energetics

Net primary productivity is greater in the open ocean than along the coast.

In terrestrial and shallow-water ecosystems,the grazing food chain is dominant over the detrital food chain.

For photosynthesis and productivity to occur,a plant must open its ________ to take in carbon dioxide.

In all food chains,the flow of energy is unidirectional from the bottom to the top.

Relative net primary productivity is the ratio of net primary productivity to standing ________.

Secondary production is limited primarily by

When a chemical reaction results in the loss of energy from the system,the reaction is exothermic.

________ efficiency is the ratio of production to assimilation,which measures how efficiently the consumer incorporates assimilated energy into secondary production.

Organic carbon produced within an ecosystem is termed ________.

In plants,low water availability favors the allocation of energy to the roots.

According to the first law of thermodynamics,

In endotherms,an increase in mass-specific metabolic rate lowers production efficiency.

An ecosystem with inputs of matter and energy is a(n)________ ecosystem.

The second law of thermodynamics is valid only in a closed system,such as a living organism.

If herbivores eat 1000 kcal of plant energy,approximately how much energy will be converted into the tissues of herbivores?

The heterotrophic component of the ecosystem is often subdivided into two subsystems: consumers and ________.

Brian Silliman's research demonstrated that productivity in highly productive coastal salt marshes is controlled by bottom-up forces,such as physical conditions and nutrient availability.

Net primary ________ is the energy available to the heterotrophic component of the ecosystem.

In a body of water,the depth at which the availability of light is such that the rate of photosynthesis equals the rate of respiration is called the ________ depth.

Net primary productivity cannot be measured in aquatic ecosystems.