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Biology > 6:3:2 Populations and Sustainability > Flashcards

6:3:2 Populations and Sustainability Flashcards

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1
Q

What is carrying capacity

A

The maximum stable population size of a species that an ecosystem can support

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2
Q

What are limiting factors

A

Abiotic and biotic factors that prevent further increase of a population by preventing individuals from reaching adulthood and reproducing.

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3
Q

What is environmental resistance

A

The combined effects of limiting factors

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4
Q

What are abiotic factors affecting population size

A
  • Non-living parts of ecosystems
  • Light availability
  • Water supply
  • Water mineral content
  • Temperature
  • Space available
  • Soil pH
  • Breeding sites
  • Oxygen availability
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5
Q

How does temperature affect population size

A

Mammals have to use more energy to maintain optimum body temperature, and there will be less energy to grow and reproduce, limiting population growth

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6
Q

What are biotic factors that affect population size

A
  • Living parts of ecosystems
  • Food availability
  • Interspecific competition
  • Intraspecific competition
  • Predation
  • Parasitism
  • Mutualism
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7
Q

What is interspecific competition

A
  • Competition for the same resources between different species
  • Species can outcompete each other if better adapted (e.g. grey and red squirrel)
  • Population increases = competition increases
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8
Q

What is intraspecific competition

A
  • Competition for the same resources between individuals in the same species
  • Can affect population size and distribution
  • Population increases = competition increases
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9
Q

What is predation

A
  • The interaction where one organism (predator) kills and eats other organisms (prey)
  • Numbers of predators and prey rise and fall in cycles
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10
Q

What are the effects of competition

A
  • Competition exclusion
  • Character displacement
  • Resource partitioning
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11
Q

What is competitive exclusion

A
  • 2 species occupy similar niches
  • Species that is better adapted to compete leaves the weaker species to starve
  • Weaker species move and find a different niche to adapt to
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12
Q

What is resource partitioning

A
  • Resources (e.g. fruit tree) divided up to satisfy needs of different feeders
  • Species aren’t competing directly but instead coexisting
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13
Q

What is character displacement

A
  • Closely related species occupying similar niches differentiate to minimise niche overlap and avoid competitive exclusion
  • E.g. Galapagos finches changing beak sizes, and those which survive better are favoured in natural selection
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14
Q

What factors affect population size

A
  • Natality
  • Immigration
  • Mortality
  • Emigration
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15
Q

What causes lag phase

A
  • Few individuals
  • Acclimatising to habitat
  • Rate of reproduction is low
  • Growth is slow
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16
Q

What causes log phase

A
  • Plenty of resources and good climatic conditions
  • Rate of reproduction is high
  • Reproduction rate exceeds mortality rate
  • Rapid population increase
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17
Q

What causes stationary phase

A
  • Population has reached carry capacity
  • Mortality rate = natality rate
  • Determined by limiting factors
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18
Q

What is the equation to estimate population size

A
  • Lincoln Index
  • Total population = (N. animals first marked and released x N. animals captured in second sample) / N. marked animals in second sample
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19
Q

What is conservation

A
  • Maintaining biodiversity and sustainability
  • Allowing change to the profile of organisms in ecosystems
  • Allowing human activity alongside other species
  • Maintaining ecosystems after change has occurred
20
Q

What is preservation

A
  • Maintaining habitats and populations exactly as they are now
  • No allowance for usage by humans
  • Prior to changes in biodiversity
21
Q

What are the reasons for conservation

A
  • Economic: timber, agriculture, tourism, pharmaceuticals
  • Social: aesthetic, inspirational, recreational
  • Ethical: right to life, cultural significance
  • Environmental: CO2 emissions, breakdown of organic waste, water cycle, producers
  • Ecological: biodiversity
22
Q

What are the causes for biodiversity loss

A
  • Overhunting/harvesting
  • Changes to agricultural practices
  • Introduction of alien species or pathogens
  • Climate change
23
Q

What are consequences to biodiversity loss

A
  • Species can’t adapt to changes
  • Loss of genetic diversity
  • Reduced gene pool
  • Genetic erosion (extinction)
24
Q

What is in situ conservation

A

Conservation where populations stay where they are (e.g. nature reserves/national parks)

25
Q

What are the advantages of in situ conservation

A
  • Species remain adapted to their habitat
  • Animals maintain natural behaviour patterns
  • Natural interactions are maintained
26
Q

What are threats to in situ conservation

A
  • Poaching
  • Climate change
  • Natural dictators
  • Invasive species
27
Q

What are the ways to manage nature conserves

A
  • Continuous monitoring
  • Habitat conservation
  • Maintained boundaries
  • Measures of successful completion of life cycles
  • Restocking/reintroducing common species
  • Active conservation management: reversing human activity effects (e.g. controlling poachers, removing invasive species)
28
Q

What is ex situ conservation

A

Conservation that involves the removal of species from the natural habitat (e.g. botanic gardens, seed banks, captive breeding programmes)

29
Q

What are the advantages of ex situ conservation

A
  • Species actively managed with necessary resources
  • Furthers genetic diversity and biodiversity
  • Offspring produced in human controlled environment
  • Cryogenic embryo storage
30
Q

What are the disadvantages of ex situ conservation (captive breeding programmes)

A
  • Species wouldn’t be adapted to common diseases
  • Reduces sex-specific behaviour
  • No uptake of innate behaviour (e.g. migration)
  • Genetic drift: Animal put back in natural habitat aren’t easily reintroduced, may cause habitat destruction by interrupting carrying capacity
31
Q

What are examples of conservation programmes

A
  • The Rio Convention
  • International Union for the Conservation of Nature
32
Q

What is sustainability

A

The ability of an ecosystem to maintain its biodiversity whilst simultaneously providing humans with resources they need over a long period of time

33
Q

How are commercial fishing schemes managed

A
  • Leave enough fish in the ocean, protect marine habitats, maintain human livelihoods
  • Fishing quotas
  • Banned/permitted areas
  • Inspecting catch
  • Banning harmful practises
  • Promote practises which reduce bycatch
34
Q

How is timber production managed

A
  • Felling and clearings added to increase biodiversity in areas of timer production
  • Genomic research to find faster growing trees to shorten breeding process
  • Coppicing and pollarding on rotation to sustainably manage slow growing trees
  • Replacing felled trees
  • Protecting lands of indigenous people
35
Q

What is mass extinction

A
  • Where a large number of species have become extinct at one time
  • Rate of extinction is very high
  • Due to major/sudden shifts in the environment
36
Q

What are the causes of extinction

A
  • Climate change
  • Competition
  • Introduction of non-native species
  • Hunting by humans
  • Mass agriculture
  • Degradation/loss of habitats
37
Q

How can climate change cause extinction

A
  • Burning of fossil fuels causes increased levels of CO2 in atmosphere
  • This causes greenhouse effect which increases global temperature
  • Ice caps melt, sea levels rise
  • Causes flooding and salination of soil
  • Rising temperature and acidity of water changes habitats for species
38
Q

How can competition cause climate change

A
  • Limited supply of resources causes competition
  • Competition reduces population size, and weaker species can become extinct
  • Competition for resources with humans can cause extinction as well
39
Q

How can introduction of non-native species cause extinction

A
  • Species have no natural competitors or pathogens to control population growth
  • Population size increases
  • Take resources etc from native species
  • e.g. Red and grey squirrels
40
Q

How can hunting by humans cause extinction

A
  • Livestock and food processing industry means humans don’t need to hunt
  • However hunting for sport is popular
  • More vulnerable species are usually targets
41
Q

How can degradation/loss of habitats cause extinction

A
  • Main cause of species extinction
  • Humans have destroyed habitats (deforestation, pollutants, etc)
  • Species survival adaptations don’t work
  • Necessary resources not available
  • Causing species to search for new resources of compete with other species
42
Q

Describe the Snowdonia National Park case study

A
  • National park in wales
  • Rich diversity of animals (deer, buzzards, cormorants)
  • Rich diversity of plants (oak, snowdonia lily)
  • Non-native species (pink flower) introduced and became a pest species
  • It caused trees to die, soil acidity, competition
  • Authorities are trying to eradicate it
43
Q

Describe the Maasai Mara National Reserve case study

A
  • Reserve in Kenya with high diversity of species
  • Maasai people raise livestock and poison predators (lions) which can damage (overgrazing) the land causing conflict with conservationists
  • Working with Maasai people a balance is reached, both needs are met
  • Employing locals to work on conservation and ecotourism
  • Employing locals to monitor lions
  • Legal hunting to cull unnecessary animals
44
Q

Describe the Terai Region case study

A
  • Grassland and forest region in Nepal
  • Diverse animal and plant species including endangered bengal tiger, Asian elephant and one-horned rhinoceros
  • Densely populated with people relying on land for resources
  • Agriculture and migration into cleared areas conflicts with wildlife
  • Conservationists work with locals
  • Protect against poachers
  • Protect endangered species
  • Promote sustainable agriculture and forestry
45
Q

Describe the peat bogs case study

A
  • Peat bogs are regions of waterlogged land within which the process of decomposition is incomplete (no O2 to decompose)
  • Under anaerobic conditions the partially decomposed plant matter forms peat
  • Peat builds up and forms carbon stores where the carbon remains locked up and isn’t released into the atmosphere
  • Unique plant species (mosses, bog cotton, heathers) which support many animals habitats
  • Humans burn peats for fuel, 90% in the UK have been lost to human exploitation
  • Conversation organisations fill in drainage ditches, control grazing, removal of tree seedlings

Biology (25 decks)

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