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GCSE Biology > B7 - Ecology > Flashcards

B7 - Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the definition of ecology?

A

Ecology is all about organisms and the environment they live in, and how the two interact

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2
Q

What 4 things plants need from the environment to survive and reproduce?

A
  • Light
  • Space
  • Water
  • Nutrients
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3
Q

What 4 things animals need from the environment to survive and reproduce?

A
  • Territory
  • Food
  • Water
  • Mates
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4
Q

What are some examples of abiotic factors?

A
  • Moisture levels
  • Light intensity
  • Temperature
  • Carbon dioxide levels
  • Wind intensity and direction
  • Oxygen levels
  • Soil pH and mineral content
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5
Q

What are some examples of biotic factors?

A
  • New predators arriving
  • Competition
  • New pathogens
  • Food availability
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6
Q

What are the 3 types of adaptation?

A
  • Structural
  • Behavioural
  • Functional
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7
Q

What is a structural adaptation?

A

These are features of an organism’s body structure (eg. shape or colour)

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8
Q

What is a behavioural adaptation?

A

These are way that organisms behave (eg. animals migrating to warmer climates during winter)

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9
Q

What is a functional adaptation?

A

These are things that go on inside (related to processes like metabolism)

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10
Q

What is an extremophile?

A

A microorganism adapted to live in very extreme conditions

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11
Q

What do food chains always start with?

A

A producer

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12
Q

What does a food chain look like?

A

Producer > Primary consumer > Secondary consumer > Tertiary consumer

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13
Q

What is biomass?

A

The mass of living material

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14
Q

What is a habitat?

A

A habitat is the place where an organism lives

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15
Q

What does the distribution of an organism mean?

A

It’s where an organism is found

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16
Q

What is a quadrat?

A

A quadrat is a square frame enclosing a known area (eg. 1m2)

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17
Q

PRACTICAL: How do you compare how common an organism is in two sample areas?

A

1) Place a 1m2 quadrat on the ground at a random point within the first sample area
2) Count how many organisms there are in the quadrat
3) Repeat Steps 1) and 2) as many times as you can
4) Work out the mean number of organisms per quadrat in the first area
5) Repeat Steps 1) to 4) for the second sample area
6) Compare the two means

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18
Q

PRACTICAL: How do you find the distribution of organisms using transects?

A

1) Mark out a line in the area you want to study using a tape measure
2) Collect the data along the line - you can do this by counting all the organisms you’re interested in that touch the line

OR
Collect the data by using quadrats.

3) Place the quadrat(s) next to each other along the line or at intervals (eg. every 2m)

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19
Q

What are some environmental changes that affect organism distribution?

A
  • Temperature
  • Water availability
  • Composition of atmospheric gases
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20
Q

Explain the water cycle in 4 steps

A

1) Energy from the Sun makes water evaporate from the land and sea, turning it into water vapour. Water also evaporates from plants - this is known as transpiration
2) The warm water vapour is carried upwards. When it gets up higher, it cools and condenses, forming clouds
3) Water falls from the clouds precipitation onto the land, providing fresh water
4) It drains into the sea, and the process starts again

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21
Q

Explain the carbon cycle

A

1) Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by plants during photosynthesis
2) During respiration, some carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2
3) When animals eat the plants, some carbon becomes part of the fats and proteins inside them. The carbon moves through the food chain
4) When animals respire, some carbon returns to the atmosphere as CO2
5) When living things die, animals (detritus feeders) and microorganisms feed on their remains. When these organisms respire, CO2 is returned to the atmosphere
6) Animals also produce waste which is broken down by detritus feeders and microorganisms
7) Combusting wood and fossil fuels also releases CO2 into the atmosphere
8) So, the carbon is constantly being recycled

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22
Q

What is compost?

A

Compost is decomposed organic matter used as a natural fertiliser

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23
Q

What is responsible for decay?

A

Microorganisms and detritus feeders

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24
Q

What are 4 factors that affect decay?

A
  • Temperature - the hotter the conditions, the faster the decomposing enzymes work
  • Water availability - the organisms need water to carry out biological processes
  • Oxygen availability - microorganisms need oxygen to decompose things
  • Number of decay organisms - the more organisms, the quicker decomposition happens
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25
Q

What is biogas?

A

A type of biofuel made from mainly methane

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26
Q

What is biogas made in?

A

A simple fermenter called a digester or generator

27
Q

What are the two types of biogas generators?

A
  • Batch generators

- Continuous generators

28
Q

What is the difference between batch generators and continuous generators?

A

Batch generators:

  • make biogas in small batches
  • are manually loaded waste

Continuous generators:

  • make biogas continuously
  • are continuously loaded with waste
  • produce biogas at a steady rate
29
Q

PRACTICAL: How do you carry out the ‘decaying milk’ practical?

A

1) Measure out 5cm3 lipase solution and add it to a test tube
2) Measure out 5cm3 of milk and add to a different test tube
3) Add 5 drops of phenolphthalein to the milk tube
4) Measure out 7cm3 of sodium carbonate solution and add it to the milk tube. As it’s now an alkaline, it will turn the mixture pink
5) Put both tubes into a water bath at 30°C and leave the tubes to get up to 30°C (put a thermometer in the milk tube)
6) Once the tubes have reached 30°C, use a calibrated dropping pipette to put 1cm3 of the lipase solution into the milk tube - START THE STOPWATCH STRAIGHT AWAY
7) Stir th contents of the tube with a glass rod. The enzyme will start to decompose the milk
8) As soon as the solution loses its pink colour, STOP THE STOPWATCH and record how long it takes for the colour to change in a table
9) Repeat Steps 1) and 8) with different temperatures. Do the experiment 3 times for each temperature, then calculate the mean time taken for the colour to change
10) You can use the results to calculate the rate of decay using this formula: rate 1000 ÷ time

30
Q

What is the equation for rate of decay?

A

rate = 1000 ÷ time

31
Q

What is the definition of biodiversity?

A

Biodiversity is the variety if different species of organisms on Earth, or within an ecosystem

32
Q

What 4 things does pollution affect?

A
  • Water - sewage and toxic chemicals from industry can pollute bodies of water, affecting plants and animals that rely on them for survival
  • Land - toxic chemicals can be used for farming and we bury nuclear waste underground
  • Air - smoke and acidic gases can pollute the air, which can cause acid rain

All of the above affects BIODIVERSITY

33
Q

Explain the process of global warming

A

1) The Earth’s temperature is a balance between the Sun’s energy it gets and the energy radiated back into space
2) Gases in the atmosphere naturally act like an insulating layer, which absorbs most of the energy that would normally be radiated into space, and re-radiated in different directions. This increases the planet’s temperature
3) If this didn’t happen, then at night there’d be nothing to keep any energy in, meaning we’d get very cold
4) There are several different gases in the atmosphere which help to keep the energy in (greenhouse gases)
5) The Earth gradually heating up because of the increasing levels of greenhouse gases (global warming). This is a type of climate change that causes other types of climate change, eg. changing rainfall patterns

34
Q

What are 4 reasons to be worried about global warming?

A

1) Sea levels rising
2) Changes in species distribution
3) Changes in migration patterns
4) Reduction in biodiversity

35
Q

Describe how destroying peat bogs adds more CO2 to the atmosphere

A

1) Bogs are land that is acidic and waterlogged. Plants that live in bogs don’t fully decay when they die, because there’s not enough oxygen. The partly-rotted plants gradually build up to form peat
2) So, the carbon in the plants is stored in the peat instead of being released into the atmosphere
3) However, peat bogs are often drained so that the area can be used as farmland, or the peat is cut up and dried to use as fuel. It’s also sold to gardeners as compost. Peat is being used faster than it forms
4) When peat is drained, it comes into more contact with air and some microorganisms start to decompose it
5) When these microorganisms respire, they use oxygen and release CO2, contributing to global warming. CO2 is also released when peat is burned as a fuel
6) Destroying the bogs also destroys the habits of some of the animals, plants and microorganisms that live there, so reduces biodiversity

36
Q

What is the definition for deforestation?

A

Deforestation is the cutting down of forests

37
Q

Why is deforestation done?

A
  • To clear land for farming to provide more food

- To grow crops from which biofuels based on ethanol can be produced

38
Q

What problems does deforestation cause?

A
  • Less carbon dioxide taken in
  • More CO2 in the atmosphere
  • Less biodiversity
39
Q

What have some people done to minimise damage to ecosystems and biodiversity?

A
  • Breeding programmes - prevents extinction
  • Habitat protection - protecting habitats helps to protect the species that live there - preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in the area
  • Preventing global warming - some governments have introduced regulations and programmes to reduce the levels of deforestation taking place and the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere
  • Reducing waste - people are encouraged to recycle to reduce the amount of waste that gets dumped in landfill sites
40
Q

What are some conflicting pressures affecting how biodiversity is maintained?

A
  • Programme costs
  • The effect on the local economy
  • Protecting food security
  • Societal development
41
Q

What is a trophic level?

A

A level in a food chain

42
Q

What do trophic levels 1, 2, 3, 4 mean?

A 
1 = producer
2 = primary consumer
3 = secondary consumer
4 = tertiary consumer
43
Q

What happens to the amount of energy and biomass as you move up a food chain?

A

It decreases

44
Q

How do you draw a pyramid of biomass to the correct scale?

A

1) If you’re given actual numbers, you can use them to draw bars of the correct scale
2) Don’t forget that the order of organisms in the pyramid must follow the order of the food chain
3) Each bar must also be labelled

45
Q

How is biomass transferred in a food chain?

A

Biomass is transferred in a food chain when organisms eat other organisms

46
Q

How is biomass lost between the trophic levels?

A

1) Organisms don’t always eat every single part of the organism they’re consuming
2) Organisms don’t absorb all the stuff in the food they ingest
3) Some of the biomass taken in is converted into other substances that are lost as waste

47
Q

What is the equation for the efficiency of biomass transfer?

A

efficiency = (biomass transferred to the next level ÷ biomass available at the previous level) x 100

48
Q

What is the definition of food security?

A

Food security is having enough food to feed a population

49
Q

What factors can threaten food security?

A
  • Population increase
  • When diets developed countries change, the demand for certain foods to be imported from developing countries can increase
  • Farming can be affected by new pests and pathogens
  • The high input costs of farming can make it too expensive for people in some countries to start or maintain food production
  • In some places, conflict affects the availability of food and water
50
Q

What is the definition of sustainable production?

A

Sustainable production means making enough food without using resources faster than they renew

51
Q

What can we do to solve the decrease in fish stocks?

A
  • Implement fishing quotas - limiting the amount of a species of fish being caught will prevent overfishing
  • Net size - limiting the mesh size reduces the number of ‘unwanted’ and discarded fish. If a larger mesh is used means unwanted fish can escape and younger through the net
52
Q

What does limiting the movement of livestock and keeping them in a temperature-controlled environment reduce?

A

It reduces the transfer of energy from livestock to the environment, making farming more efficient

53
Q

How is bacteria genetically engineered to make human insulin?

A

1) A plasmid (loop of DNA) is removed from a bacterium

2) The insulin gene is cut out of a human chromosome using a restriction enzyme. These recognise specific sequences of DNA and cut the DNA at these points. The cut leaves one of the DNA strands with unpaired bases.
This is now called a ‘sticky end’

3) The plasmid is cut open using the same restriction enzyme, leaving the same sticky ends
4) The plasmid and the human insulin gene are mixed together
5) Ligase, an enzyme, is added. This joins the sticky ends together to produce recombinant DNA (2 different pieces stuck together)
6) The recombinant DNA is inserted into the bacterium
7) The modified bacterium is grown in a vat under controlled conditions. You end up with millions of bacteria that produce insulin. The insulin can be harvested and purified to treat people with diabetes

54
Q

What is a mycoprotein?

A

Food from fungi

55
Q

What is mycoprotein used to make?

A

High-protein meat substitutes (Quorn)

56
Q

Which fungus is mycoprotein made from?

A

Fusarium

57
Q

What are the advantages of genetically modifying foods?

A
  • GM crops can be produced that are resistant to pests, improving crop yield
  • Crops can grow better in droughts
  • They can become more nutritional
58
Q

What are the disadvantages of genetically modifying foods?

A
  • Many people argue that people go hungry because they can’t afford food, not that there isn’t any to eat
  • People fear that countries may become dependent on GM seed-selling companies
  • GM crops won’t survive with poor soil
59
Q

What is the definition for an organism?

A

A single living thing

60
Q

What is the definition for a population?

A

The number of a particular species living in a habitat

61
Q

What is the definition for a community?

A

Lots of different populations living in the same are

62
Q

What is the definition for an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms with the non-living parts of their environment

63
Q

What is a biofuel?

A

A fuel made by living organisms

GCSE Biology (7 decks)

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