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Biology > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms with the non-living parts of their environment.

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2
Q

What is a community?

A

The populations of different species living in a habitat.

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3
Q

What is interdependence?

A

How all organisms in an ecosystem depend on each other for food, protection and shelter to survive.

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4
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of different species of organisms within an ecosystem.

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5
Q

What do species depend on each other for?

A
  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Pollination
  • Seed dispersal
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6
Q

What is a stable community?

A

When all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that population sizes stay constant.

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7
Q

What are examples of stable communities?

A

Tropical rainforests and oak woodlands.

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8
Q

What are the abiotic factors that can affect communities?

A
  • Light intensity
  • Temperature
  • Moisture levels
  • Soil pH and mineral content
  • Wind intensity and direction
  • CO2/O2 levels
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9
Q

What are the biotic factors that can affect communities?

A
  • Availability of food
  • New predators
  • New pathogens/diseases
  • Species outcompeting each other
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10
Q

What do the arrows in a food chain represent?

A

The movement of energy.

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11
Q

Arrows move from … to …

A

PREY to PREDATOR

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12
Q

Why does a self supporting ecosystem have to have an external source of energy?

A

Producers need sunlight for photosynthesis so that they can produce glucose to grow. The glucose serves as food for animals further up the food chain and the oxygen is needed for respiration by living animals.

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13
Q

Why is it rare to have more than five trophic levels in an ecosystem?

A

There isn’t enough energy left as the energy moves up they food chain as it is lost through movement, growth, urine, faces and respiration.

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14
Q

What is biomass and what shape does a pyramid of biomass look like?

A

The mass of living things.
It is pyramid shaped

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15
Q

What are the two types of pyramid?

A

Pyramid of number and pyramid of biomass.

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16
Q

What percentage of biomass is passed through each trophic level

A

10%

17
Q

Where is biomass lost?

A
  • Energy, growth, movement
  • Urine
  • Faeces
  • New organism
  • Energy from cellular respiration is transferred by heating the surroundings
18
Q

What is a population?

A

A group of organisms of one species living in a habitat.

19
Q

Required Practical: How many plantain are there on Leebourne?

A
  1. Measure the area of the field
  2. Use a random number generator to choose a spot to place the quadrat
  3. Count the number of plantain in the quadrat and repeat
  4. Calculate an average and multiply the number of plantain in 1m^2 by the whole area.
    To get a representative and fair sample the quadrats need to be placed randomly and multiple times.
20
Q

Required Practical: How distance from a tree affects the light intensity and the number of plantain that can grow there

A
  1. Place the transect line from the tree into the centre of the field.
  2. Place a quadrat at regular intervals and use a light metre to measure the intensity and count how many plantain there are.
    To get a representative and fair sample place the quadrants at regular intervals and complete the experiment at the same time of day.
21
Q

What is an adaptation?

A

A characteristic of an organism that improves its chances of surviving/reproducing.

22
Q

What are the three types of adaptation?

A
  • Structural
  • Functional
  • Behavioural
23
Q

What is the structural type of adaptation?

A

A feature of an organisms body that helps it survive/reproduce.
E.g. claws or spikes

24
Q

What is the functional type of adaptation?

A

A body process that helps an organism to survive/reproduce
E.g. making poison

25
Q

What is the behavioural type of adaptation?

A

Responses made by an organism that help it to survive
E.g. hibernation

26
Q

What are the benefits of having a high surface area to volume:ratio?

A

You can lose heat faster which means animals in hot places are long and thin whilst organisms in cold environments need to conserve heat so have a lower surface area:volume area.

27
Q

What are extremophiles?

A

Organisms that live in very extreme environments such as high temperatures/pressure or high salt concentration.

28
Q

Why are animals in a food chain called consumers?

A

They get their food molecules by eating other organisms.

29
Q

Describe the carbon cycle.

A
  • Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide from respiration and combustion
  • Carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers to make carbohydrates in photosynthesis
  • Animals feed on plants, passing the carbon compounds along the food chain (most carbon they consume is exhaled as carbon dioxide during respiration) and the animals and plants eventually die
  • Dead organisms are eaten by decomposers and carbon in their bodies is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. In some conditions decomposition is blocked. The plant and animal material may then be available as fossil fuel in the future for combustion
30
Q

What does decay do?

A

Transfers carbon from dead materials to the atmosphere.

31
Q

How do plants benefit from the microorganisms in the carbon cycle?

A

Microorganisms release carbon dioxide and mineral ions for plants to re-use.

32
Q

Describe the water cycle.

A

Biology (7 decks)

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