Biodiversity (U3, T1) Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an abiotic factor?

A

A non living part of the environment and their interactions

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2
Q

What is a biotic factors?

A

A living part of the environment and their interactions

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3
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

genetic variation and diversity between living things in an ecosystem.
(this includes the amount of variety within a species, variety of species, or a variety in ecosystem types in a specific location)

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4
Q

What are adaptations?

A

each organisms has structures and behaviours that have allowed them to live in certain environements

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5
Q

What are the four types of behavioural adaptations?

A

Innate, learned, survival, seasonal

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6
Q

Why is buoyancy an advantage of living in water?

A

Organisms can grow with little supporting structures

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7
Q

TRUE OR FALSE: Salt water easily passes through cell membrane

A

True

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8
Q

TRUE OR FALSE: sexual reproduction occurs easily in water

A

True

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9
Q

List three limitations of living on land

A

Any of the following:
transporting water around the body
preventing water loss
materials only pass through cell membrane in solutions
body needs support with gravity
reproduction with little water
variable weather conditions

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10
Q

TRUE OR FALSE: CO2 is not readily available on land

A

False.
CO2 and O2 are readily available due to the atmosphere

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11
Q

Define communities

A

an ecosystem that contains populations of organisms (biotic) that interact with their physical (abiotic) factors

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12
Q

List the four categories of organisms

A

Producers (autotrophs), consumers (heterotrophs), detritivores, decomposers

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13
Q

What are producers?

A

self feeding organisms that form complex organic compounds containing carbon and hydrogen atoms

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14
Q

TRUE OR FALSE: producers are the primary energy source for ALL organisms

A

True

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15
Q

What are consumers?

A

feed on other living organisms with already formed organic molecules

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16
Q

What are first order consumers called?

A

Herbivores. These eat producers

17
Q

What are second/third order consumers called?

A

Carnivores. These eat living animals

18
Q

What do omnivores eat?

A

A plant and animal diet

19
Q

What do detritivores do?

A

They decompose organic matter such as rotting leaves or animal remains

20
Q

What do decomposers do?

A

They release enzymes onto dead plant/animal remains to absorb externally digested matter

21
Q

What do decomposers leave behind?

A

They leave behind simple molecules which are reabsorbed into the environement

22
Q

List five ways to determine the diversity of species

A

Species richness, relative species abundance, percentage cover, percentage frequency, Simpson’s index`

23
Q

What is the formula for species richness?

A

S = s/sqr(N)

S = species richness
s = number of species
N = total individual organisms

24
Q

What does species richness measure?

A

the number of species present in a specific area with random samples taken to be an indication of the greater population

25
Q

How is relative species abundance measured?

A

the number of each species counted in proportion to other species sampled

26
Q

How do you tell if an ecosystem is healthy (using species abundance)?

A

if various species in the same area are similar in number

27
Q

Define asexual reproduction

A

the production of a genetically identical offspring from a single parent

28
Q

What is a large gene pool?

A

a species which has many different alleles for it’s genes

29
Q

What is a biome?

A

a large geographic region characterised by the form of the species living there. these species are typically influenced by latitude, rainfall and temperature. biomes often contain several ecosystems

30
Q

How is species richness measured?

A

by counting the number of species within a quadrat

31
Q

What is percentage cover?

A

an estimate of what percentage each species occupies within a quadrat

32
Q

What is percentage frequency?

A

the percentage of quadrats in which a species is counted. this is very useful as it indicates the evenness of species distributions and abundance

33
Q

What is Simpson’s Diversity Index (SDI)?

A

a calculation that determines the probability two species in an ecosystem will be different. the higher the value, the more diverse an ecosystem is.

34
Q

What is the formula for SDI?

A

SDI = 1 - n(n-1)/N(N-1)

35
Q

TRUE OR FALSE: species interactions impact the spatial distribution of individuals within an ecosystem

A

True.
When there is a uniform distribution, it is often an indication of competition. Species interactions impact where individuals may be when sampled.

36
Q

List two examples of abiotic factors

A

temperature, rainfall, soil type, soil pH, availability of water, humidity, light intensity, salinity of water or soil

37
Q

How does a limiting factor affect distribution of species?

A

They restrict the range and distribution of one species by impacting growth and abundance

38
Q

What is a limiting factor?

A

A limiting factor is an environmental factor that falls outside the tolerance limit of the species

39
Q

What is the difference between species abundance and species richness?

A

species richness refers to the number of species in an area. Species abundance refers to the number of individuals per species