ecology

Question 1

species

Answer 1

a group of organisms that share similar characteristics that are able to breed and create fertile offspring

Question 2

population

Answer 2

number of organisms of a specific species in a specific time and place

Question 3

community

Answer 3

collection of all organisms in a specific time and place

Question 4

habitat

Answer 4

the environment that a particular organism requires to survive

Question 5

ecosystem

Answer 5

all of living and non-living components of a defined area

Question 6

biome

Answer 6

large geographical area that has common characteristics
for example climate

Question 7

what is a niche

Answer 7

the place in the world where an organism fits
- finding own niche within species makes for less competition

Question 8

what are two different types of niche?

Answer 8

interspecific and intraspecific

Question 9

what is an interspecific niche?

Answer 9

competition between different species

Question 10

what is an intraspecific niche?

Answer 10

competition within same species

Question 11

autotroph

Answer 11

any organism capable of producing its own organic molecules (food)
this includes plants, some bacteria, phytoplankton

Question 12

heterotroph

Answer 12

any organism that eats other plants or animals
includes humans and most other animals

Question 13

detritivore

Answer 13

eats dead or decaying matter and takes their food inside the body to digest
eg insects eating fallen leaves

Question 14

saprotroph

Answer 14

eats dead or dying matter but it lets the food digest outside their body
for example fungi

Question 15

how does fungi digest food

Answer 15

outside their body by secreting enzymes and breaking it down

Question 16

biodiversity

Answer 16

the variety of life in the world or in particular habitat or ecosystem

Question 17

sampling techniques?

Answer 17

static
- quadrats and transects
mobile
- traps

Question 18

quadrats

Answer 18

used for plants and some animals
are used when habitat is uniform

Question 19

how do transects work?

Answer 19

rope or tape is stretched across the habitat in a straight line

Question 20

when are transects used?

Answer 20

when it has a continuous change
- river
- mountains
- ocean

Question 21

whats entropy?

Answer 21

the point in the universe at which everything becomes disordered

Question 22

how is energy lost in animals?

Answer 22

homeostasis
- regulation of things like body temp
muscle contraction
- to keep warmth, it comes with respiring
active transport
biosynthesis

Question 23

what does an example food web consist of?

Answer 23

tertiary consumers - 0.1J
secondary consumers - 1J
primary consumers - 10J
primary producers - 100J

Question 24

succession?

Answer 24

the change in living things in an ecosystem over time
- its the process of starting with nothing, uncolonised ground into a very stable ecosystem

Question 25

what are the three stages of succession

Answer 25

pioneer intermediate climax community

Question 26

what is the pioneer stage?

Answer 26

plants start to colonise a new environment usually liches, mosses and small herbs as they die they decompose into organic matter

Question 27

what is the intermediate stage

Answer 27

more grasses and small shrubs addition of more species, increases organic matter in soil

Question 28

what is the climax community

Answer 28

a stable environment with an equilibrium allowing species to exist together without changing a lot

Question 29

what is a diverted seres?

Answer 29

when an ecosystem doesn't reach the climax humans and natural factors (grazing, fire and deforestation) prevent an ecosystem from reaching its climax community

Question 30

what is biomass

Answer 30

the mass of the living organism in a given area, expressed as dry weight of mass per unit of area, GM2

Question 31

what is efficiency?

Answer 31

% of the energy transferred from one trophic level to another

Question 32

the equation for efficiency?

Answer 32

(energy used for growth x new biomass / energy supply) x 100

Question 33

how do you find net primary production?

Answer 33

NPP = GPP - R

Question 34

what is productivity?

Answer 34

conversion of energy into biomass over a given period of time, rate of growth units - GM2YR

Question 35

what is primary succession?

Answer 35

when it starts with bare uncolonised ground which never had any vegetation growing on it - include glaciers, sand dunes, volcanic lave

Question 36

what is secondary succession?

Answer 36

when it happens on areas that used to have vegetation but it has been destroyed by fire or floods or volcanic ash, or deforested because soil and plants already existed it becomes recolonised faster

Question 37

r-strategists

Answer 37

species that produce many offspring and do not care and nurture them

Question 38

where do r strategists live?

Answer 38

in hostile, unstable and unpredictable environments, hence producing lots of offspring

Question 39

k-strategists

Answer 39

species that produce few offspring and will nurture their few offspring into maturity

Question 40

where do k-strategists live?

Answer 40

in environments that are more stable

Question 41

what is DDT?

Answer 41

synthetic insecticides, combats malaria, typhus and other insect borne human diseases

Question 42

what is DDT known for?

Answer 42

to be persistent in the environment accumulate in fatty tissues can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere

Question 43

what is bioaccumulation?

Answer 43

accumulation of toxins in one living thing, build-up of toxins in a singular organism

Question 44

what is biomagnification?

Answer 44

magnification is a massive increase in the concentration of toxins as you move up the trophic levels the bigger animals eat many smaller ones so it builds up

Question 45

disadvatanges of DDT?

Answer 45

human health effects insoluble in water very persistent in environment

Question 46

advantages of DDT?

Answer 46

cheap and useful when treating crops so they don't get eaten combats malaria, typhus, and other insect-borne diseases

Question 47

zonation?

Answer 47

changes in community along an environmental gradient due to factors such as changes in altitude, latitude, tidal level or distance from shore