B17.2 - Materials Cycling (finished)

Question 1

How are materials passed up the food chain returned to the environment?

Answer 1

They are returned to the environment in waste products when organisms die and decay

Question 2

In what conditions are microorganisms responsible for decay most active?

Answer 2

Warm, moist, aerobic

Question 3

In a stable community, materials ___ soil and used by ___ ARE ___ by those put back in

Answer 3

Taken out, plants, balanced

Question 4

What are some examples of materials living things are made up of coming from the world around them?

Answer 4

Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen

Question 5

Why do materials (organisms) decay?

Answer 5

They decay as they are broken down by microorganisms

Question 6

Why in a stable community do plants not run out of raw materials?

Answer 6

Materials taken up by plants is balanced out by those put back in by decay/decomposition creating a cycle

Question 7

How do materials cycle through food chains?

Answer 7

Plants take raw materials out of ground and use them to grow > eaten by primary consumer > secondary > tertiary > death and decomposition/decay by microorganisms returns raw materials to soil > starts again

Question 8

How does water vapour get added to the atmosphere in the water cycle?

Answer 8

• Energy from the sun causes water to evaporate from land and sea, as well as from plants (transpiration) becoming water vapour
• Respiration also causes water loss as water vapour to the air

Question 9

Describe the condensation stage of the water cycle?

Answer 9

Water vapour is carried up by warm air rising where it cools and condenses to form clouds

Question 10

What happens in the precipitation stage of the water cycle?

Answer 10

Water falls from clouds as precipitation onto land

Question 11

What happens after precipitation in the water cycle?

Answer 11

Water drains back to the sea so the whole cycle starts again. One way is percolation

Question 12

What is percolation?

Answer 12

Percolation is when water trickles through gaps in soil and rocks

Question 13

Name the stages of the water cycle?

Answer 13

Evaporation/transpiration > condensation > precipitation (> percolation / return to sea)

Question 14

What does a change in organism distribution mean?

Answer 14

A change in distribution means a change in where an organism lives

Question 15

What are some environmental changes that can cause distribution of organisms to change?

Answer 15

Water availability, temperature, atmospheric gas change

Question 16

Why is the water cycle important for ecosystems?

Answer 16

The water cycle provides fresh water for plants and animals

Question 17

Why would a change in atmospheric gases change organism distribution?

Answer 17

Some species can’t survive in areas with e.g. more air pollution. For example lichen which can’t grow where soulful dioxide is given out from industrial processes

Question 18

What types of factors are environmental changes leading to a change in organism distribution caused by?

Answer 18

Seasonal factors, geographic factors, human interaction (e.g. global warming men’s rise in temperature)

Question 19

How does decay by microorganisms help the material cycle?

Answer 19

It returns carbon to the atmosphere as co2 and mineral ions to the soil