7C - Populations in Ecosystems Flashcards
What is a habitat?
The place where an organism lives (e.g. rocky shore)
Give an example of a habitat.
- Rocky shore
* Field
What is a population?
All the organisms of one species in a habitat.
What is a community?
Populations of different species in a habitat make up a community.
What is an ecosystem?
A community, plus all the abiotic conditions in the area in which it lives.
Are ecosystems small or large?
They can be both.
e.g. Small pond or large ocean
Explain the difference between an ecosystem and habitat.
CHECK
A habitat is simply the place in which an organism lives, while an ecosystem includes a community with all the abiotic factors associated with it.
Explain the difference between a population and a community.
A community is the collection of populations in a certain habitat.
What are abiotic conditions?
The non-living features of an ecosystem.
What are biotic conditions?
The living features of an ecosystem.
Give an example of an abiotic condition.
- Temperature
* Availability of water
Give an example of a biotic condition.
- Presence of predators
* Food
What is a niche?
The role of a species within its habitat.
eg. What, where and when it eats
What is an adaptation?
A feature that members of a species have that increases their chance of survival and reproduction.
What does a species’ niche include?
- Biotic interactions (e.g. the organisms it eats and those it’s eaten by)
- Abiotic interactions (e.g. the oxygen an organism breathes in and the CO2 it breathes out)
Can a niche be shared?
- No, each species has a unique niche.
* It may appear as if two species are occupying the same niche, but there’ll be small differences, such as what they eat
What happens if two species try to occupy the same niche?
- They compete with each other.
* Eventually, only one species is left
Give an example of a niche.
Common pipistrelle bat:
This bat lives throughout Britain on farmland, open woodland, hedgerows and urban areas. It feeds by flying and catching insects using echolocation at frequency of around 45 kHz.
Give an example of the differences in niche between…
• Common pipistrelle bat:
This bat lives throughout Britain on farmland, open woodland, hedgerows and urban areas. It feeds by flying and catching insects using echolocation at frequency of around 45 kHz.
• Soprano pipistrelle bat:
This bat lives in Britain in woodland areas, close to lakes or rivers. It feeds by flying and catching insects using echolocation at a frequency of around 55 kHz.
They use different frequencies for echolocation.
What are the 3 types of adaptation?
- Physiological
- Behavioural
- Structural
What are physiological adaptations?
To do with processes inside the body.
What are behavioural adaptations?
To do with how an organism acts.
What are structural adaptations?
To do with structural features of the body.
Describe simply natural selection.
Organisms with better adaptations are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on the alleles for their adaptations, so the adaptations become more common in the population.