Bozeman Science: Ecosystems Guided Viewing Name: ______________________________________________________ 1: What is primary productivity? What do we measure it in?

(units) Primary productivity is the combination of energy and matter. It is the amount of biomass from the producers. It is measured gC/m2/yr. 2: What are producers? Who are the main producers in the ocean? How is this measured in an aquatic environment? The producers are plants and organisms who produce their own food. The main producers in the ocean is the algae. It is measured by 3: What is a trophic level? List and define the trophic levels. (Give examples) In which direction does the arrow go in a food web? Explain. A trophiclevel is an eating level. Producers- organisms who make their own food (algae), Consumers- organisms who need to eat producers to gain energy (amphipod) Second level consumers- organisms who eat consumers (snails) Third level consumer- organisms who eat the previous consumers (salmon) A food webs arrow goes to whichever organisms because they all have different connections. 4: What is a food web? How is it different than food chains? A food web shows the connections between different organisms. They are different because they show all the interactions between the ecosystem. 5: Explain the limiting factors for growth in ecosystems. Explain logistic growth. The limiting factors are the factors that affect the exponential growth such as drought, competition, and disease. Logistic growth is the limit of the exponential growth. 6: What is the carrying capacity (K) of an ecosystem? The carrying capacity (K) is the amount of support an ecosystem can hold. 7: What factors affect the carrying capacity of a population? Explain how wolves and elk populations are linked and how they will reach equilibrium. The factors that affect carrying capacity are food availability, water, and space. Wolves and elk are linked because wolves eat about 87% of elk. This causes the elk population to decrease as wolves increase. They will reach equilibrium if they are affected by the factors such as disease and humans. 8: Summarize the story of the Whitebark Pine and how humans can impact an entire ecosystem by choices we make (directly or indirectly).

Whitebark Pine is a tree that middens collect pine nuts from. Sometimes middens get lost in the higher part of yellow stone and are eaten by bears. Global warming causes the temperature to rise in Yellowstone. The food chain is tied to the temperature. Human impacts can cause pressure in the ecosystem, changing the ecosystem and food chain.