B7 - Ecology Flashcards
Habitat
The place where an organism lives
Population
All the organisms of one species living in a habitat
Community
The population of different species living in a habitat
Abiotic factors
Non-living factors of the environment
Biotic factors
Living factors of the environment (e.g. food)
Ecosystem
The interaction of a community of living organisms with the non living parts of their environment (biotic and abiotic)
Give some examples of competition in an ecosystem
- Plants need light, space, water and minerals
- Animals compete with other species for food, water, mates and space
- Organisms compete with other species for the same resources
What is interdependance?
Each species depending on each other for things such as food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal
Give some examples of abiotic factors
- Moisture level
- light intensity
- temperature
- carbon dioxide
- wind intensity
- oxygen level
- soil pH
Give examples of biotic factors
- new predators
- competition
- new pathogens
- food supply
What are food chains?
Show the flow of energy from producers to consumers and predators
What are producers?
Photosynthetic plant producers that make their own food using energy from the Sun
What are consumers?
They eat the previous consumer, or the producer
What is the predator?
Consumer at the top of the food chain
Predator prey cycle
Rabbits rise becuase of increased warmth (summer) and food
Foxes increase later because there is more food for them
They later decrease as they’ve eaten all the rabbits there are no more rabbits
A little later this then increases the rabbit population
The cycle repeats again
Water cycle + carbon cycle
Check goodnotes
Biodiversity?
The variety of differente species of organisms on Earth, or within an ecosystem
Why is high biodiversity important?
Ecosystems can become stable becuase of interdependence
What evidence is there of humans affecting biodiversity?
- Population due to medicine
- Population increases demand of food, therefore deforestation etc.
Air pollution
- When fossil fuels are burnt, they can produce acid gases and this can help format acid rain
- Acid rain directly damages the environment, killing trees (leaves), destroying roots and poisoning lakes
- Smoke pollution causes an increase in tiny solid particles. This causes a dimming effect which can reflect light (cooling) and damages the cardiovascular system (lungs)
- Smog are smoke and chemicals as sulfur dioxide
Land pollution
- Waste is produced by a population (waste, harzadous and industrial waste)
- This can go to landfill sites, which can take up a lot of room, destroy natural habitats and infect the soil
- Food produce can be affected by this because it’s too dangerous to feed other poeple
- Farming also leads to land pollution becuase animala nd fungal pests attack crops and eat them. Pesticides that kill the insects might destroy the crop
- The chemicals therefore are dangerous and the land
Water pollution
- Nitrates from fertalisers can be easily washed into lakes, ponds and rivers which affect the living organisms inside the habitat
- Untreated sewage in the ocean leads to a high level of nitrates in the plants
- Nitrates stimulate the rapid growth of algae and water plants
- Toxic chemicals such as a pesticides and herbicides or poisonous chemicals from landfill sites can also be washed inito the waterways.
- These have a bioaccumulation effect on aquatic food webs as they do on life on land
Global warming
Visible light (radiation) passes throught the atmosphere into the Earth and is reflected back. However, when it is reflected, it turns into infrared radiation and because of it’s frequency, it can’t pass back out and instead ocelates forth and back from the atmosphere and the earth. This is a reusult of the increasing carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere
Consequences of Global Warning
- Ice melts to water which leads to higher sea levels which can lead to flooding in low sea level areas
- Distrubtions of animal and plant species may change
- Biodiversity will be recuced
- Changes in migration patterns
What do humans use land for?
- Building, farminng, quarrying, dumping waste
- Less land for other organisms
- Deforestation and destruction
