Competition and Environmental Change

Question 1

What do organisms compete for and why?

Answer 1

Resources to survive and reproduce

Question 2

What 4 things do plants need to survive and reproduce?

Answer 2

1. Light
2. Space
3. Water
4. Minerals _{(nutrients) from the soil}

Question 3

What 4 things do animals need to survive and reproduce?

Answer 3

1. Space _(territory)
2. Food
3. Water
4. Mates

Question 4

Who do organisms compete with for the same resources?

Answer 4

With other species and members of their own species

Question 5

Explain why the population of red squirrels in the UK is/ has been decreasing?

Answer 5

Red and grey squirrels live in the same habitat and eat the same food.

Competition with greys means there’s not enough food for the reds.

Question 6

The environment in which plants and animals live ____ ____ ____ ____

Answer 6

The environment in which plants and animals live changes all the time

Question 7

Name the 2 categories of factors that cause environmental change

Answer 7

1. Living
2. Non-living

Question 8

Name the 4 living factors that cause environmental change

Answer 8

1. Change in occurence of infectious diseases
2. Change in number of predators
3. Change in number of prey or availability of food source
4. Change in number or types of competitors

Question 9

Name the 3 non-living factors that cause environmental change

Answer 9

1. Change in average temperature
2. Change in average rainfall
3. Change in level of air or water pollution

Question 10

What are teh 3 ways environmental changes can affect animals and plants?

Answer 10

1. Population size increases
2. Population size decreases
3. Population distribution changes

Question 11

What happens if the number of prey increases?

Answer 11

There’s more food available for predators, so more predators survive and reproduce, and their population increases too

_{(which can then cause the number of prey to decrease, so the number of predators to decrease, so the number of prey to increase etc)}

Question 12

Give 3 reasons experts are using to explain why the population of bees in the UK is falling rapidly?

_{(what is causing the CCD?)}

_{poor stressed bees}

Answer 12

1. Some pesticides may be having a negative effect on bees
2. There’s less food available - there aren’t many nectar-rich plants around anymore
3. There’s more disease - bees are being killed off by new pathogens and parasites _{(plus honeybees are all a bunch of inbreds)}

Question 13

What does ‘a change in distribution’ mean?

Answer 13

A change in where the organism lives

Question 14

Why is the European Bee-Eater bird, a Mediterranean species, now present in parts of Germany?

What is this an example of?

Answer 14

Change in distribution

The average temperature in Germany has risen^{_{/ is rising}}

Question 15

If you are given some data in the exam and asked about the change in distribution of an organism, what 3 things do you need to think of?

Answer 15

1. What that organism would need to survive
2. Any environmental changes that have occured
3. If things are in limited supply, there will be competition

Question 16

Is it easy to measure accurately how much our environment is changing?

Answer 16

No - it’s hard

Question 17

Name the two types of indicators that can be used to measure environemental change

Answer 17

1. Living indicators
2. Non-living indicators

Question 18

Define ‘indicator species’

Answer 18

Organisms that are very sensitive to changes in their environment

Question 19

What can we use indicator species for?

Answer 19

We can study them to see the effect of human activities

Question 20

What indicator species can help us monitor air pollution, and what causes this usefulness?

Answer 20

Particular types of lichen that are very sensitive to the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere

Question 21

How can lichen be used to monitor air pollution?

Answer 21

The number and type of lichen at a particular location will indicate how clean the air is

(the air is clean if there is lots of lichen)

Question 22

The presence of which organism in water indicates it is clean, and why?

Answer 22

Mayfly larvae

Because they are very sensitive to the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water.

When raw sewage is released into a river, the bacterial population in the water increases and uses up the oxygen.

Question 23

How can we identify polluted conditions?

Answer 23

The presence of invertebrate species that have adapted to live in polluted conditions

e.g. rat-tailed maggots and sludgeworms usually indicate a very high level of water pollution

Question 24

Name the 4 non-living indicators of environmental change

Answer 24

1. Satellites
2. Automic weather stations
3. Rain gauges
4. Dissolved oxygen meters

Question 25

What 2 environmental changes do satellites measure?

Answer 25

1. Temperature of sea surface
2. Amount of snow and ice cover

Question 26

Name 2 advatages of satellite measures

Answer 26

1. Modern, accurate
2. Global coverage

Question 27

What environmental change do automatic weather stations measure?

Answer 27

1. Atmospheric temperature of various locations