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IB Biology > C.2 Communities and Ecosystems > Flashcards

C.2 Communities and Ecosystems Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a trophic level?

A

The position an organism occupies within a feeding sequence

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2
Q

What always occupies the first trophic level in a feeding sequence?

A

Producers

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3
Q

Why do primary consumers occupy the second trophic level?

A

Because they feed on producers

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4
Q

What may occupy subsequent trophic levels?

A

Further consumers

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5
Q

What does a food chain show?

A

The linear feeding relationships between species in a community?

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6
Q

What do arrows represent in a food chain?

A

The transfer of energy and matter as one organism is eaten by another

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7
Q

In food chain, what direction does the arrow point in?

A

The direction of energy flow

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8
Q

What is the first organism in a food chain?

A

A producer

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9
Q

What follows producers in a food chain?

A

Consumers

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10
Q

What will most species feeding requirements consist of?

A

Multiple food chains

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11
Q

In most species feeding requirements what will organisms occupy?

A

Different trophic levels

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12
Q

What is a food web?

A

A diagram that shows how food chains are linked together into more complex interrelated feeding relationships

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13
Q

Why is a food web more representative of actual feeding pathways within an ecosystem? (2)

A
  • organisms can have more than one food source
  • organisms can have more than one predator
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14
Q

What can organisms do in a food web but not in a food chain?

A

Occupy more than one trophic level

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15
Q

What does ecological production refer to?

A

The rate of generation of biomass in an ecosystem

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16
Q

How is ecological production usually expressed?

A

In units of mass per area per time

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17
Q

What is biomass?

A

The total dry weight of organic matter in organisms or ecosystems

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18
Q

What is essentially the entirety of all biologically produced organic matter?

A

Biomass

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19
Q

What is the percentage of energy that is converted into biomass dependent on?

A
  • energy lost as inedible materials
  • energy lost via excretion of undigested and unabsorbed materials
  • energy is lost as heat from cellular respiration
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20
Q

What is primary production?

A

The production of chemical energy in organic compounds by producers

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21
Q

What is the main source of energy for primary production?

A

Sunlight

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22
Q

What is a second source of energy for primary production?

A

Chemosynthesis

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23
Q

What are the two categories of primary production?

A

Gross primary production
Net primary production

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24
Q

What is gross primary production?

A

The amount of chemical energy as biomass that a producer creates in a given length of time

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25
Q

What is net primary production?

A

The amount of chemical energy that is not consumed by respiration

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26
Q

What is secondary production?

A

The generation of biomass by consumers

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27
Q

What is the biomass generation in secondary production driven by?

A

The transfer of organic compounds between trophic levels via feeding

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28
Q

How may secondary production be categorised as?

A

Gross and net amounts of biomass

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29
Q

What is gross?

A

Total

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30
Q

What is net?

A

Usable

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31
Q

What does the feed conversion ratios measure?

A

The efficiency of an animal in converting the food provided into a desired output

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32
Q

What is the equation for FCR?

A

mass of feed/ mass of desired output

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33
Q

What does the lower the feed conversion ratio mean?

A

The more efficient the method of food production

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34
Q

How is a low feed conversion ratio obtained?

A

By minimising the potential losses of energy for the animal stock

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35
Q

What are three ways to obtain a low feed conversion ratio?

A
  • restricting animal movement
  • optimising feeding practices
  • slaughtering animals at a young age
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36
Q

What is the problem with efficient food production practices?

A

There are ethical issues involved

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37
Q

Why will restricting animal movement lower FCR?

A

It reduces energy lost to cell respiration

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38
Q

Why would you optimise feeding practices?

A

So that food is ingested and digested more effectively

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39
Q

Why would you slaughter animals at a young age?

A

Older animals tend to grow more slowly and have a higher FCR

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40
Q

What are the two ways to describe an ecosystem?

A

Open or closed

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41
Q

What does a closed ecosystem exchange with its surroundings?

A

Energy but not matter

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42
Q

Is an open or closed ecosystem self-contained?

A

A closed ecosystem

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43
Q

What does an open ecosystem exchange with surrounding environments?

A

Both energy and matter

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44
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of living and non-living things within an area

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45
Q

What will emerge in a given geographical area according to climate conditions?

A

Particular types of stable ecosystems

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46
Q

What is a biome?

A

A geographical area that has a particular climate and sustains a specific community of plants and animals

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47
Q

What are the two main factors that affect the distribution of biomes?

A

Temperature and rainfall

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48
Q

What will temperature and rainfall vary in accordance to?

A

Latitude and longitude
Altitude
Proximity to the ocean

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49
Q

What is a tropical rainforest?

A

Hot and humid environments near the equator with dense vegetation and high biodiversity

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50
Q

What is taiga?

A

Coniferous forests near the poles that have cold temperatures and little precipitation

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51
Q

What are deserts?

A

Dry and arid environments that display extreme temperature conditions

52
Q

What is a climograph?

A

A graphical representation of basic climatic parameters at a given geographical location

53
Q

What do climographs combine?

A

Temperature and precipitation

54
Q

What can climographs be used to identify?

A

Seasonal patterns and changes

55
Q

What did Robert whittaker do?

A

Developed a holistic climograph that allowed for the classifying of nine biomes

56
Q

What do deserts typically have?

A

High temperatures and low precipitation

57
Q

What do rainforests typically have?

A

High temperature and high precipitation

58
Q

What do taigas typically have?

A

Low temperatures and low precipitation

59
Q

What do pyramids of energy show?

A

The flow of energy between trophic levels

60
Q

How are pyramids of energy measured?

A

In units of energy per area per time

61
Q

What shape are pyramids of energy?

A

Triangular

62
Q

Why are pyramids of energy never inverted?

A

90% of energy is lost between trophic levels

63
Q

Why will pyramids of energy differ between ecosystems?

A

Due to the effect of climate on primary productivity

64
Q

What will warmer temperatures speed up?

A

Enzyme reactions needed for photosynthesis

65
Q

Why will high precipitation increase photosynthesis?

A

The photolysis of water is essential for non-cyclic photophosphorylation

66
Q

Describe tropical rainforests level of net primary productivity?

A

High

67
Q

Describe deserts level of net primary production?

A

Low

68
Q

Why can ecosystems with high productivity be able to support more trophic levels?

A

As they will be able to supply more energy to consumers

69
Q

What will affect how efficiently energy is transferred between trophic levels?

A

The types of species within a particular biome

70
Q

What do gersmehl diagrams show?

A

The differences in nutrient flow and storage between different types of ecosystems

71
Q

What are the three ways nutrients are stored in nutrient sinks?

A

Biomass
Litter
Soil

72
Q

What is litter?

A

Any organic matter in and on the soil

73
Q

What is soil?

A

The top layer of earth that is composed of disintegrated rock particles

74
Q

What can nutrients be transferred between?

A

Nutrient sinks

75
Q

How are nutrients cycled?

A

Via environmental inputs and outputs

76
Q

What is fallout?

A

Nutrients being transferred from biomass to litter

77
Q

What is decay?

A

Litter to soil

78
Q

What is uptake?

A

Soil to biomass

79
Q

How can litter additionally gain nutrients?

A

Via precipitation

80
Q

How can litter also lose nutrients?

A

Surface runoff

81
Q

How can soil gain nutrients from the erosion of rocks?

A

Via weathering

82
Q

How can soil also lose nutrients?

A

Via leaching

83
Q

What will climatic factors affect the interrelationships between?

A

Nutrient stores and flows

84
Q

How are most nutrients stored as in tropical rainforests?

A

Biomass

85
Q

Describe the rate of transfer of nutrients between stores in tropical rainforests?

A

Fast

86
Q

Why is biomass where most nutrients are stored in tropical rainforest?

A

Litter is rapidly decomposed and vast roots quickly draw nutrients from soil

87
Q

How are most nutrients stored in taiga?

A

As litter

88
Q

Why is litter the most common place for nutrients to be stored in taiga?

A

Low temperatures slow decomposition which delays nutrient transfer to soil and biomass

89
Q

Why is there little nutrient gain from precipitation or weathering in the taiga?

A

Due to low levels of rainfall

90
Q

What may be high if the snow melts?

A

Surface runoff

91
Q

How are most nutrients stored in desert?

A

In soil

92
Q

Why is soil the most common storage for desert?

A

Few plants exist to store nutrients as biomass or produce litter

93
Q

Why is there little nutrient gain from precipitation and little nutrient loss via runoff?

A

Due to very low levels of rainfall

94
Q

What is negligible in the desert?

A

The amount of weathering and leaching

95
Q

What does ecological succession describe?

A

The process of how a sequence of increasingly complex communities develop over time

96
Q

When has the climax community been reached?

A

When succession has ended and the community has all of its characteristics

97
Q

When does primary succession occue?

A

When communities develop on entirely new land without any established soil

98
Q

What are examples of where primary succession might happen? (4)

A

River deltas
Glaciers
Sand dunes
Exposed rock

99
Q

What are pioneer species?

A

The organisms which first colonise the region

100
Q

What are pioneer species typically?

A

Lichen or moss

101
Q

What happens when the lichen and moss die?

A

They decompose which creates the first organic soil capable of sustaining plant growth

102
Q

What happens as plant species colonise the area?

A

The litter produced by their growth and their decomposing remains will cause changes

103
Q

What are the five changes to soil and rock when plant species colonise the area?

A

Soil depth will increase
soil pH will become altered
Soil mineral content will increase
Soil will became aerated and water retention is increased
Rocks will be broken down by the roots

104
Q

What will the changes in soil allow for?

A

The growth of larger plants

105
Q

What does the growth of larger plants help reduce?

A

Erosion through the binding action of their roots

106
Q

What will happen between larger and smaller plants?

A

Larger plants will outcompete smaller shade intolerant plants

107
Q

How can a primary succession be identified?

A

According to the distribution of plants at a site of ecological nascency

108
Q

What is a site of ecological nasency?

A

Any location where a new community may emerge from uninhabitable land

109
Q

Why do regions further from the glacier have more time to develop life?

A

As glacial retreat exposes bare rock for colonisation

110
Q

What can environmental disturbances cause?

A

Fluctuations to the structure and rate of change within ecosystems

111
Q

What may a natural environmental disturbance give rise to?

A

Secondary succession

112
Q

What is secondary successs?

A

Where one ecosystem is replaced by another

113
Q

When does secondary succession occur?

A

When succession starts on existing soil following the upheaval of a pre-existing ecosystem

114
Q

What is removed so a new ecosystem can develop on the site of the old?

A

Biota

115
Q

Why is dominance usually achieved by the fastest growing plants in secondary succession?

A

Because soil is already developed

116
Q

What triggers a secondary succession?

A

An environmental disturbance destroys the pre-existing climax community

117
Q

What is first to grow back in secondary succession?

A

Grasses and herbaceous plants

118
Q

What is not required in secondary succession?

A

Pioneer species

119
Q

In secondary succession, what will develop to their fullest?

A

Fast growing trees

120
Q

In secondary succession, what will develop in the understory?

A

Shade tolerant trees

121
Q

in secondary succession what may happen as the ecosystem reverts to its prior state?

A

The fast growing trees may be overtaken by larger, slower growing trees as the ecosystem reverts to its prior state

122
Q

What is deforestation?

A

The permanent destruction of a forest via the removal or clearance of trees

123
Q

How does deforestation disturb the normal nutrient cycle?

A
  • less evapotranspiration = less rainfall
  • less litter = reduced humus
  • loss of nutrients from leaching
  • soil becomes acidic and thin
  • infertile soil reducing biodiversity
  • alters distribution of plant species
124
Q

What causes environmental distrubances?

A

Natural or artificial disruptions to a normal ecosystem

125
Q

What are six ways the effect of an environmental disturbance on an ecosystem can be measured?

A
  • population density
  • species diversity and richness
  • presence of indicator species
  • canopy coverage/light intensity
  • biomass
  • edaphic factors
126
Q

Why must measurements taken from a disturbed area need to be compared against measurements taken from an undisturbed control?

A

To statistically calculate both the effect and magnitude of the environmental disturbance

IB Biology (57 decks)

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