7C - Ecosystems

Question 1

Habitat

Answer 1

The place where an organism lives, e.g. a rocky shore or a field.

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

All the organisms of one species in a habitat.

Question 3

Community

Answer 3

Populations of different species in a habitat make up a community.

Question 4

Ecosystem

Answer 4

A community, plus all the non-living (abiotic) conditions in the area in which it lives. Ecosystems can be small, e.g. a pond, or large, e.g. an entire ocean.

Question 5

Abiotic conditions

Answer 5

The non-living features of the ecosystem, e.g. temperature and availability of water.

Question 6

Biotic conditions

Answer 6

The living features of the ecosystem, e.g. the presence of predators or food.

Question 7

Niche

Answer 7

The role of a species within its habitat, e.g. what it eats, where and when it feeds.

Question 8

Adaptation

Answer 8

A feature that members of a species have that increases their chance of survival and reproduction, e.g. giraffes have long necks to help them reach vegetation that’s high up. This increases their chances of survival when food is scarce.

Question 9

Ecology

Answer 9

The study of organisms in an environment.

Question 10

Environment

Answer 10

The conditions that surround an organism - biotic and abiotic factors.

Question 11

Species

Answer 11

Organisms that look similar that can breed to produce fertile offspring.

Question 12

What is specific about niches?

Answer 12

Every species occupies a different niche.

Question 13

What does the niche a species occupies include?

Answer 13

Its biotic interactions - e.g. the organisms it eats, and those it’s eaten by.

Its abiotic interactions - e.g. the oxygen an organism breathes in and the carbon dioxide it breathes out.

Question 14

What can a niche be occupied by only?

Answer 14

It can only be occupied by one species.

Question 15

What happens if two species try to occupy the same niche?

Answer 15

They will compete with each other and one species will be more successful than the other, until only one of the species is left.

Question 16

What adaptations can there be?

Answer 16

• Physiological (processes inside the organisms body).
• Behavioural (the way an organism acts).
• Anatomical (structural features of their body).

Question 17

What are physiological adaptations?

Answer 17

Adaptations of processes inside the organisms body.

Question 18

What are behavioural adaptations?

Answer 18

Adaptations of the way an organism acts.

Question 19

What are anatomical adaptations?

Answer 19

Adaptations of structural features of their body.

Question 20

What are organisms with better adaptations more likely to do?

Answer 20

Survive, reproduce and pass on the alleles for their adaptations.

Question 21

What happens if the organisms with better adaptations are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on the alleles for their adaptations?

Answer 21

The adaptations become more common in the population.

Question 22

What is natural selection?

Answer 22

When organisms with better adaptations survive, reproduce and pass on the alleles for their adaptations. so that the adaptations become more common in the population.

Question 23

What is it called when organisms with better adaptations survive, reproduce and pass on the alleles for their adaptations, so that the adaptations become more common in the population?

Answer 23

Natural selection.

Question 24

What is every species adapted to do?

Answer 24

Use an ecosystem in a way that no other species can - it has its own unique niche.

Question 25

What conditions are organisms adapted to?

Answer 25

The biotic and abiotic conditions in their ecosystem.

Question 26

Give an example of abiotic conditions

Answer 26

How much water is available.

Question 27

Give an example of biotic conditions

Answer 27

What predators there are.

Question 28

Is how much water is available a biotic or abiotic condition?

Answer 28

Abiotic.

Question 29

Is what predators there are a biotic or abiotic condition?

Answer 29

Biotic.