Ecology

Question 1

Habitat

Answer 1

Place where an organism lives

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

All the organisms of one species living in a habitat

Question 3

Community

Answer 3

The populations of different species living in a habitat

Question 4

Abiotic factors

Answer 4

Non-living factors of an environment like temp.

Question 5

Biotic factors

Answer 5

Living factors of an environment like food

Question 6

Ecosystem

Answer 6

Interaction of a community of biotic organisms with abiotic parts of their environment

Question 7

Competition

Answer 7

Organisms need things from their environment and from other organisms to survive so they compete for the same resources

Question 8

Interdependence

Answer 8

Each species depends on eachother for things such as food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal. This means that a major change in the ecosystem can have far-reaching effects

Question 9

Structural adaptation

Answer 9

The features of an organisms body structure which is visible like:
Arctic animals like the arctic fox have white fur for camouflage.
Animals in cold places like whale have thick layer of blubber
Animals in hot places like camel have thin layer of fat

Question 10

Behavioural adaptation

Answer 10

Way they behave, many species migrate (birds) to warmed climates during the winter to avoid the problems of living in cold conditions

Question 11

Functional adaptation

Answer 11

Things that go on inside an organism’s body that can be related to processes like reproduction and metabolism. Dessert animals conserve water by produced little sweat. Bears lower metabolism to conserve energy to hibernate

Question 12

Extremophiles

Answer 12

Adapted to live in very extreme conditions like high temp. or high salt conc. or high pressure

Question 13

Stable community

Answer 13

The species of living organisms is in balance - the number of species remains relatively constant as does the population sizes of each species. Environmental factors are also relatively constant

Question 14

Environmental factors on distribution

Answer 14

An organism might be more common in one area than another due to differences in environmental factors between the two areas

Question 15

Quadrat

Answer 15

A square frame enclosing a known area e.g. 1m^2

Question 16

Two ways to find distribution of an organism

Answer 16

Measure how common an organism is in two sample areas and compare them using quadrats
Study how the distribution changes across an area by placing quadrats along a transect

Question 17

Using quadrats practicle

Answer 17

1. Place 1m^2 quadrat on the ground at a random point within the first sample area e.g. divide area and use random number generator for coordinates
2. Count alk the organisms within the quadrat
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as you can
4. Work out the mean number of organisms per quadrant within the first sample area
5. Repeat steps 1-4 in the second sample area
6. Compare the two means

Question 18

Food chains

Answer 18

Show what’s eaten by what in an ecosystem. Producers are eaten by primary consumers who are eaten by secondary consumers who ar eaten by tertiary consumers. Energy is transferred when organisms eat other organisms

Question 19

Producer

Answer 19

Make (produce) their own food using energy from the Sun and always start the food chain. Usually green plants or algae

Question 20

Biomass

Answer 20

The mass of living material or energy stored in a plant

Question 21

Population of prey and predators

Answer 21

Population is usually limited by the amount of food available. If population of prey increases then the population of predators will increase. But as the population of predators increase, the population of prey will decrease. But because of less food the population of predators will fall again. Predator-prey cycles are always out of phase with eachother because it takes a while for one population to respond to the changes in another population

Question 22

Using transects

Answer 22

1. Mark out a line in the area you want to study using a tape measure
2. Then collect data along the line
3. Can do this by counting the organisms that you’re interested in that touch the line
4. You can collect data by using quadrats placed next to eachother along the line or at intervals e.g. every 2m

Question 23

Different types of adaptations

Answer 23

Structural, Behavioural, Functional