Distribution of organisms Flashcards
What is a habitat?
A place where an organism lives.
What is the distribution of an organism?
Where an organism is found
What are the five environmental factors that affect the distribution of an organism?
1) Temperature
2) Amount of light
3) Availability of water
4) Availability of nutrients
5) Availability of oxygen and carbon dioxide
What is a quadrat and what is it used for?
A quadrat is a square frame enclosing an area. It is used to compare and measure how common organisms are in different areas.
How would you work out the mean number of organisms per quadrat?
Total number of organisms divided by the number of quadrats.
How would you work out population size?
Mean number of organisms per m^2 multiplied by the total area of the habitat in m^2
What are transects and how are they used?
Transects are lines used to find out how organisms are distributed across an area.
How would taking a large sample help to make results reliable?
Bigger samples are more representative of the whole population
How can you make your results valid?
Control the variables
