abiotic_factors

reSummary Questions: Abiotic Factors and gradients…

1) Describe __methods for measuring__ 3 abiotic factors in an ecosystem and __how they vary__ along a particular gradient (i.e. depth time distance) listing appropriate units for each.

Choose from: a. Marine You can use a hydrometer or the more accurate refractometer.  · Fresh water - less than 1,000 ppm · Slightly saline water - From 1,000 ppm to 3,000 ppm · Moderately saline water - From 3,000 ppm to 10,000 ppm · Highly saline water - From 10,000 ppm to 35,000 ppm PPM = parts per million.
 * How to measure salinity in a marine habitat: **

 **How to measure ph levels in a marine habitat**
You can either use the Probe and Meter Method or use Litmus Paper to check the ph levels.

Measured in kilometers per hour. You use a thermometer to measure water temperature and the unit that is used is Celsius or Fahrenheit.  || a.) Marine Pressure-- Can be measured using a pressure gauge within a submarine. Pressure gauges two inlets to compare water to atmospheric pressure. Pressure gauges often have manometers to indicate the growing pressure as the depth increases. However, the pressure of the water relates to it's density, so sometimes salinity must be taken into account. The unit for pressure is kPa, atm, or psi. [Sara]
 * How do you measure wind speed? **
 * You can use, weather vanes, wind socks, anemometers or Beaufort Scales **
 * The main instrument used to measure the **speed ** of the wind is an //anemometer.// The little cups on this device catch the wind and spin round at different speeds according to the strength of the wind. A recording device is used to count how many times they spin round in a given time.
 * How do you measure temperature? **

b.Freshwater Temperature – it can be measured using a thermometer and it decreases as distance from the surface increases. A thermocline separates the warmer water on the surface from mixing with the water from the bottom, hence the water temperature would be similarly high above the thermocline and changes rapidly lower at the bottom. The temperature of water is measured in degrees Celsius (°C) 1225935659 Amount of dissolved oxygen -- it can be measured as mg/L or ppm. By using a dissolved oxygen sensor, it measures the pressure of oxygen in water. The oxygen permeable membrane allows oxygen to diffuse through, creating a current to be recorded. Higher pressure forces more oxygen to diffuse and more current to produce. At deeper layer of the lake, the amount of dissolved oxygen decreases.

Bedload: Bedload is sediment that is moves along the river bed. It usually composed of pebbles and sand but during high velocity, boulders can be moved. To measure it, you can break down the ecosystem into various sections, these sections can be measured using meters. At each section collect five rocks, measure the diameter of each rock using a caliper. Average the sizes so that you can determine the average rock size at each site. The unit being used would be centimeters. The sediment size may vary as you move further along the stream. There is generally more erosion at the end of freshwater stream which also means there is a high velocity at the end of the stream. The bedload size would be smaller due to the amount of friction against the rocks from the velocity of the water. [ Paige Anderson ] Terrestrial
 * Soil Salinity:** it can be measured by passing an electrical current through a soil sample. This can give electrical conductivity (ability to carry a current) which is measured in deciSiemens per meter (dS/m). A higher dS/m value indicates a higher soil salinity. Soil salinity decreases over time due to the soil weathering and releasing salts which are flushed away by precipitation. user:DavidSu

Sunlight in an ecosystem can be measured by a //Sun Analyzer//. Insolation, the amount of sunlight reaching a horizontal surface at Earth's surface, is measured in units of watts per square meter (W/m2). http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/gardening/1273676.html [Mandy McGuire]

Terrestrial Leaf wetness measures the amount of moisture in the leaves of trees. This is measured in leaf wetness hours, which takes in account temperature and rainfall. So the more rain or dew the higher degree of leaf wetness. To measure this you attach a leaf wetness recorder to a tree and it registers it on your computer. This moisture has an influence on plant disease and insect reproduction, and this can help us understand plant diseases like fungus in an ecosystem. [Andrea Blackburn]

2) Explain how the changes for one of these factors would affect productivity in this particular ecosystem. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 맑은 고딕"> Marine- The amount of dissolved oxygen in a water body is one abiotic factor in a marine ecosystem. The amount of dissolved oxygen in a water body is frequently the key substance in determining the extent and kinds of organic life in the water body. Fish need dissolved oxygen to survive. If the amount of dissolved oxygen in a water body decreases because of the increase of photosynthesis of algae then fish population and the productivity would decrease simultaneously. Conversely, as oxygen is fatal to many kinds of anaerobic bacteria, the productivity of anaerobic bacteria would increase. user:JunhoKang <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> Marine-- Pressure. The pressure of the ocean greatly affects the biotic factors in the ecosystem. For deeper places in the ocean, places with high pressure, there are few species, as only a few species can survive the pressure of the ocean at that depth. Many of these are scavengers that pick at dead material that has fallen from above, but there are a few prominent predators that feed on these scavengers and occansionally, on each other. For example, the sperm whale and giant squid are known to be constantly switching roles of predator and prey (however, the sperm whale is usually the one to win), yet this shows how the species in high pressure zones survive. Food chains are notably shorter, since the amount of species that can survive the pressure is small, thus the species in these zones aren't as diverse.<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">

Terrestrial - The average temperature of a terrestrial environment will affect which plants are able to grow in the monitored environment

The amount of sunlight in an ecosystem would affect the plant growth. If an ecosystem where there is minimal sunlight suddenly gets a lot it, plants who can't handle all the sunlight will shrivel up and die. On the other hand, if plants who are used to a lot of sun exposure suddenly experience a decrease in sunlight, they too will die. Plants survival in the ecosystem, of course, affects primary consumers also. [Mandy

Terrestrial – precepitation More plantations and animals will likely to be discovered in places that has more precipitation than places has little precipitation, which is there is greater productivity in places that has heavy precipitation. Precipitation brings a lot of water to a particular ecosystem. Precipitation and soil moisture are directly link together. The amount of water precipitation in terrestrial system will influence the amount of water evaporation from soils, transpirations by plants, horizontal and vertical soil water transport, and hydraulic redistribution of soil water. The soil in a place that has more precipitation will likely to be more wet, soft, which is very suitable for most of plants and animals to live in. The time and location partitioning of water precipitation also has a very great impact in an ecosystem. For example, in winter, the process of evaporation and transpiration are limited, which enables water in the ecosystem accumulate and infiltrate deeper into the soil profile. Also, there is a huge difference between arid, semiarid, and non- arid region. In arid and semiarid regions of the world water precipitation and availability is the essential problem to solve. People who live in arid and semiarid area will have to come up with many policies according to various prediction of different time period. In the article __Assessing__ __the Response of Terrestrial Ecosystems__ __to Potential Changes in Precipitation__, says that “precipitation is often a limiting factor in more mesic terrestrial. For example, native tallgrass prairies in the US Central Plains experience substantial interannual variations in production that are tightly coupled to annual precipitation.” AS we can see, precipitation can significantly influence the productivity in a particular system. That is why most ecosystem is very sensitive to it. (also depends on it ) [ Emilie Chien] Resources: http://www.konza.ksu.edu/ramps/Weltzin%20et%20al.%20Biosci03.pdf

Freshwater - For bedload, if there is a lack of sediment in a particular part of the ecosystem, then deficiency of nutrients in the ecosystem. The sediments carried in the stream provide organisms with nutrients and if the size of the sediment is small or it is getting transported from the high velocity then productivity would diminish. The nutrients provide the organisms with energy and if these nutrients were to decrease then so would the productivity. [ Paige Anderson ]

Marine Life - PH --- Building on Sara's idea of using a submarine, water samples of different levels can be taken and observed in the labs. The Ph level will differ depending on the surrounding area. There should a higher level of PH in the marine ecosystem around cities than those in the ocean. The measurement for the PH is on a PH scale ranging from 1 to 14.

Light Intensity - a Method of measuring the light intensity is to use a submarine and take a light probe to measure the amount of light in that particular level. The trend is that as the you go deeper, light will deminish causing less photosynthesis and less marine plants.The measurements is watt per square metre, W·m−2

Charles Lee