Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Biology > 6.5 - Ecosystems > Flashcards

6.5 - Ecosystems Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is a habitat?

A

The place where an organism lives

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are ecosystems?

A
  • Any group of living organisms and non-living things occurring together and the interrelationships between them
  • All living and non-living components and their interactions
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is a population?

A

All of the organisms of one species who live in the same place, at the same time and breed together

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is a community?

A
  • All the organisms, of all the different species living in a habitat where they can interact with each other
  • For example: A garden with lots of different animals of different species
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is a niche?

A

The role of an organism in the ecosystem

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are biotic factors?

A

The effect of other living organisms in an ecosystems

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A

Non-living components in an ecosystem that can affect the living organisms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What are some examples of biotic factors?

A
  • The feeding of herbivores on plants
  • Predation
  • Parasites
  • Mutualistic relationships, the relationship between a host and a symbiote where both organisms benefit and no one is harmed
  • Competition (E.g: Between algae for sunlight)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is a mutualistic relationship?

A

A mutualistic relationship is a relationship between a host and a symbiote where both organisms benefit and no one is harmed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is intraspecific competition?

A

-Individuals of the same species competing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is interspecific competition?

A

-Competitions between different species

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What are some examples of abiotic factors?

A
  • Temperature
  • Light intensity
  • Oxygen concentration
  • Carbon dioxide concentration
  • Water supply
  • PH
  • Availability of inorganic ions
  • Edaphic features
  • Atmospheric humidity
  • Wind speed
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are edaphic features?

A

An abiotic factor relating to the physical or chemical composition of the soil found in a particular area

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What are the abiotic and biotic factors in a rock pool?

A

Abiotic:

  • Water availability
  • Sunlight, for the seaweed/plants in the water
  • PH of the salt water
  • Pollutants of the sea water

Biotic:

  • Competition of other hermit crabs
  • Parasites
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are the abiotic and biotic factors in a woodland habitat?

A

Abiotic:

  • Temperature
  • Wind speed
  • Humidity
  • PH of the soil

Biotic:

  • Interspecific competition, between different species
  • Intraspecific competition with individuals of the same species
  • Parasites
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

How is biomass transferred through ecosystems?

A
  • All organisms found within an ecosystem require a source of energy to perform the functions needed to survive
  • Ultimately the sun is the source of energy for almost all ecosystems on earth
  • Through the process of photosynthesis, the sun’s light is converted into chemical energy in plants and other photosynthetic organisms
  • This chemical energy is then transferred to other non-photosynthetic organisms as food
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are trophic levels?

A

-A place in the food chain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is a primary consumer?

A

-A primary consumer eats or feeds on the producer

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is a secondary consumer?

A

-A secondary consumer eats or feeds on the primary consumer

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is a producer?

A

-The producer is a photosynthetic organism that fixes carbon using sunlight

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is biomass?

A
  • Biomass is the mass of living material in a particular food web/chain
  • To calculate the biomass at each trophic level you multiply the number of organisms by their dry mass
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is an advantage of using dry mass in a pyramid of mass?

A
  • Using dry mass is an advantage as it allows us to compare different organisms
  • This is because different organisms have different water content which would effect the biomass
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is a disadvantage of using dry mass in a pyramid of mass?

A

-By removing the water it results in killing off the organisms which could be seen as unethical

24
Q

How is the energy content of the dry mass obtained?

A
  • Using a calorimeter, the sample must be burnt in a high pressure of oxygen
  • The rise in temperature of the water is measured
25
Q

Why does the biomass decrease when going down the trophic levels?

A
  • Not all biomass is eaten
  • Some of the biomass energy is transferred/lost to the environment as heat
  • Some of the biomass energy is excreted
  • Some biomass is indigestible (E.g: Cellulose)
26
Q

What is the net primary production?

A
  • The energy available at each trophic level (Net primary production or NPP)
  • The NPP is measured in kilojoules per metre squared per year (Kj m^-2yr^-1)
  • The NPP is measured per year to allow for photosynthetic production and consumer feeding patterns throughout the year to be accounted for
  • The biomass is transferred between trophic levels, so the energy continued is transferred
  • The efficiency of biomass or energy that is transferred from one trophic level to the next is called ecological efficiency
  • This can be represented by a pyramid of energy
27
Q

What factors could increase the NPP?

A
  • High temperature
  • Increase in sunlight
  • The more photosynthesis occurs, the more storage of biomass
28
Q

Which habitat would have a higher rate of NPP and why? A grass meadow in England or a rainforest in the amazon?

A
  • The rainforest would have a higher NPP
  • This is because it would have a higher temperature and increased sunlight, this means that the photosynthesis rates in the rainforest would be higher so there will be a higher storage of biomass
29
Q

Why do producers only convert 1-3% of the sunlight they receive into chemical energy?

A
  • Not all light hits the chlorophyll
  • Also, not all the light that hits the leaves is absorbed as some is reflected, transmitted through the leaf or of the wrong wavelength
  • Other factors may also limit the rate of photosynthesis
30
Q

What is productivity?

A

-The rate at which the plant converts light energy into chemical potential energy

31
Q

What is gross primary productivity?

A

-The total quantity of energy that is converted by plants in this way (Photosynthesis)

32
Q

What is NPP?

A

The energy that remains as chemical energy after plants have supplied their own needs in respiration

33
Q

What is the formula to work out Net production?

A

Net production = gross production - respiratory losses

34
Q

What is the formula to work out Ecological efficiency?

A

Ecological efficiency =

[Energy or biomass available after the transfer / Energy or biomass available before the transfer] x100

35
Q

If smelt has a biomass of 1250Kj m^-2yr^-1 and trout has a biomass of 250Kj m^-2yr^-1 what is the ecological efficiency between the two?

A

[250 / 1250] x 100 = 20%

36
Q

How do humans manipulate the transfer of energy in animals?

A
  • Animals are kept indoors with warmth in order to prevent them from losing mass, the animals will not lose as much mass as they don’t won’t have to respire as much to stay warm
  • Animals can be kept from moving, by reducing the movement of the animals it means that energy is not transferred into kinetic energy for movement and instead it is kept as biomass
  • Animals can be fed a high protein diet so that the protein can be transferred into muscle mass
  • Animals can be vaccinated against diseases, this helps to prevent the use of any energy in the immune response so that energy can be kept as biomass instead
  • Animals can also be slaughtered before they become so that energy is not wasted on the mature stage and it is kept as biomass
  • Humans can also use GMO instead in order to retain biomass in produce that will be eaten
37
Q

What is the process of the nitrogen cycle?

A
  • There is nitrogen gas in the air
  • The nitrogen can be fixed into ammonia via nitrogen fixing by the lightening-Haber process or nitrogen fixing by bacteria
  • Ammonia can then be oxidised into nitrites by nitrosomonas
  • Nitrites are then made into nitrates by nitrobacter (The nitrofying bacteria)
  • Nitrates can then be absorbed by plants to make its own protein
  • Animals eat the plants to take in the plant protein
  • The animal protein can then be turned back into ammonia by death and decomposition from saprobionts
  • Denitrifying bacteria can also denitrify the nitrates in the soil to make nitrogen gas in the air
38
Q

What are the two bacterium that are involved with nitrogen fixing?

A
  • Rhizobium, nitrogen fixing bacterium in the root nodules of some plants like peas
  • Azotobacter, free living bacteria in the soil
39
Q

What are saprobionts?

A

-Fungi and bacteria that secrete enzymes onto their food which hydrolyses the polymers
-This allows the monomers to be absorbed
(E.g: Polypeptides are broken down into amino acids)

40
Q

How does nitrogen fixing occur via lightening and the Harbour process?

A
  • Nitrogen from the air is combined with hydrogen to make ammonia
  • The reaction is reversible and the production is exothermic
  • This process is normally used to make fertilisers
41
Q

What are rhizobiums?

A
  • Mutualistic, nitrogen fixing bacteria that live in the root nodules of leguminous plants such as peas
  • They fix nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonia
42
Q

What is azotobacter?

A

-Free living nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil which converts nitrogen in the air into ammonia

43
Q

What is nitrosomonas bacteria?

A

-Nitrosomonas is a nitrifying bacteria which changes ammonia into nitrites

44
Q

What is nitrobacter?

A

-Nitrobacter is nitrifying bacteria which changes nitrites into nitrates

45
Q

What is the process of the carbon cycle?

A
  • Plants take in CO2 for photosynthesis and release CO2 via respiration
  • Animals release CO2 via respiration
  • The carbon in plants is transferred to the soil through death and decomposition by decomposers
  • Decomposers release CO2 into the air via respiration
  • The burning/combustion of fossil fuels (Decomposed, compressed dead plants) releases CO2 into the atmosphere
46
Q

What is the effect of high CO2 levels on temperature in the atmosphere?

A

The temperature increases as CO2 levels increase

47
Q

What is succession?

A
  • The process by which ecosystems will change over time
  • This can be seen as you move inland from the beach, the species become more diverse as you move away from the beach
  • Succession occurs due to changes in the environment (The abiotic factors), causing the plant and animal species present to change
48
Q

What is primary succession?

A
  • Primary succession occurs on land that is newly formed/exposed, there is no soil present
  • For example: Volcanic island that has recently been formed in the Pacific ocean
49
Q

What is secondary succession?

A

-Secondary succession occurs where soil is present but no animal/plant species are present

50
Q

What are the stages of succession called?

A
  • Succession takes place in stages, each one known as a seral stage (Or sere)
  • At each seral stage key species can be identified change the abiotic factors, especially the soil to make it more suitable for the existence of the next species
  • The succession starts with pioneer species then intermediate species and finally the process ends as a climax community
51
Q

What are the features of a pioneer community?

A
  • The pioneer community enters the ecosystem
  • They arrive before the climax
  • The pioneer community is subject to greater change, low biodiversity, less stable and low biomass
52
Q

Why are pioneer species important?

A
  • Pioneer species such as the moss lichen are:
  • Fix nitrogen
  • Photosynthesis
  • Tolerate extreme conditions
  • Weather the rocks create a layer of humus (A thin layer of soil that is needed for the next community of plant organisms to grow)
53
Q

What are the features of an intermediate community?

A
  • When the pioneer species die they add to the soil which is now able to support grasses and small flowering plants
  • These outcompete pioneer species
  • Examples include: Grasses and small flowering plants
54
Q

What are the features of a climax community?

A
  • When the intermediate species die hey add to the soil which is now able to support larger shrubs and trees
  • These outcompete the grasses and flowering plants for light, space and nutrients
  • Examples include: Oak and hickory
  • The community is in its stable state, however there can be some dominant animal and plant species
55
Q

What is deflected succession?

A
  • This is where human activity can halt the natural flow of succession and prevent it from reaching its climax community
  • When succession is artificially stopped it is called a plagioclimax
  • For example: Mowing the lawn, grazing of sheep, forest fires and clearing shrubbery for growing crops

Biology (23 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions