Chapter 1 - Key Words Flashcards
What does Biodiversity mean?
Bio- biology meaning life
Diversity - variety of of life
What factors affect Biodiversity in the ecosystems?
Abiotic, Biotic factors and human influences
What is a Biome?
Geographical region of the planet that is characterised by its climate and contains distinctive communities of plants and animals
3 land biomes?
Rainforest, tundra, grasslands
3 water biomes?
Oceans, freshwater lochs, shallow salt water seas
Ecosystem?
Natural biological unit in which organisms interact with their environment
Habitat?
A place where an organism lives, such as pond, a rock, pool, soil or leaf litter
Population?
Total number of organisms of the same species that live in a particular habitat, such as a number of red deer on a piece of moorland.
Community?
The name given to all the different populations of organisms living in a habitat. A rock pool community might be made up of populations in sea weed, crabs, shrimps, small fish and sea anemones.
Abiotic?
Non living or physical factors that affect organisms and include light, moisture, temperature, PH, wind speed and oxygen availability.
Biotic?
Related directly to living organisms and include factors such as grazing, competition for food and space, preparation and disease.
What do human activities do?
Affect biodiversity because they influence both abiotic and and biotic factors such as PH and temperature and include grazing and predation, which affect organisms within the ecosystems.
Niche?
Niche of the organisms is the role it plays. It refers to its whole way of life and includes it’s interactions with other organisms in the community and resources it takes from its habitat.
Fauna?
The animals of a particular region
Flora?
The plants of a particular region.
