Biology Ecosystems Flashcards
Define food chain.
A food chain is a diagram that shows what an organism eats.
It shows the transfer of energy between organisms.
Part of a food web, starting with producer and ending with a top predator.
What is a producer?
A green plant or algae that makes its own food using sunlight by the process of photosynthesis.
What is the second organism in a food chain?
A herbivore.
What is the third organism in a food chain?
A carnivore.
What is a consumer?
An animal that eats plants or other animals.
What do the arrows show in a food web?
The transfer of energy (stored in food) from one organism to the next.
Define prey and predator.
An animal that is eaten by another animal.
An animal that eats other animals.
How many links are there in a food chain?
Most food chains have only 4 or 5 links.
If there were more, too little energy would be transferred to organisms at the top of the food chain.
At each level of the food chain, ……. energy is transferred to the organism in the level above.
Less
How is energy lost in a food chain?
Some energy is transferred to the surroundings by heating and as waste products.
How much energy available at one level, is transferred to the next level?
About 10%
Define food web.
A diagram that shows how food chains in an ecosystem are linked.
Define decomposers.
Organisms, bacteria and fungi that break down dead plant and animal material. This releases nutrients into the soil or water.
Define bioaccumulation.
The build up of toxic chemicals inside organisms in a food chain.
Define population.
A group of the same species living in an area.
Define habitat.
The area in which an organism lives.
What is interdependence?
The way in which living organisms depend on each other to survive, grow and reproduce.
Why is the decreasing bee population a concern?
If bee populations decrease, then less pollination occurs, which means fewer crop plants may be produced, which means human food supplies could decrease.
What is the size of a population affected by?
The number of predators and prey
Diseases
Pollution
Competition
What would happen if the grass went for long periods without rain?
The grass would die, and there would be less food for insects and animals such as snails, caterpillars and rabbits. These organisms would die, unless they moved to another area. All other animals in the food web would also die as their food source has gone.
Give an example of a chemical that can be passed along a food chain?
Insecticides.
There are the chemicals that some farmers use to kill insects that eat their crops.
Describe how bioaccumulation works with insecticides?
Farmers use them on their crops.
Some are washed into rivers and end up in the sea.
Fish absorb small amouns of these chemicals and store them in their body.
Seals eat the fish and the insecticides passes into their body.
Levels of the chemical accumulate in the seals, as they eat a lor of fish.
Polar bears eat seals and so it accumulates to high levels in the polar bear and can make them ill and cuase death.
Define ecosystem.
The name given to the plants and animals that are found in a particular location and the area in which they live. These plants and animals dependon each other to survive.
The organisms in an ecosystem are known as a ….
community
