Enviornmental social science Unit 1 and 2

Trophic Efficiency (%) = (Energy at current trophic level / Energy at lower trophic level) * 100

Zonation refers to the distribution of plants and animals into specific zones based on their tolerance to environmental conditions (e.g., altitude, water depth, soil type).

The process of succession generally follows these stages:

When we talk about measuring ecosystem structure and efficiency, we're essentially trying to answer questions like: How many organisms are there? How much "stuff" (biomass) do they represent? And how quickly do they produce new "stuff" (productivity)?

Ecosystem structure refers to the physical organization and distribution of organisms and non-living components. Key measurements include:

This topic brings together how you understand ecological processes and how those understandings fit into your personal Environmental Value System (EVS). We'll look at the scientific foundations of how ecosystems work, then dive into the features of EVS.

A trophic level describes an organism's position in a food chain. Think of it as steps in energy transfer. Plants are at the first trophic level (producers), then herbivores (primary consumers) at the second, carnivores (secondary consumers) at the third, and so on.

This section dives into how ecosystems function, from energy transfer to population dynamics, and then links that to significant ecological changes and human perspectives.

You'll need to understand how trophic levels work in a food chain. A food chain describes how energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem by organisms eating each other. Each step in this chain is a trophic level.