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Biology > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is a habitat?

A

place where an organism lives.

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2
Q

What is a population?

A

all the organisms of one species living in a habitat.

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3
Q

What is a community?

A

The population of all the different species living in habitat.

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4
Q

What are biotic factors?

A

living factors of the environment.

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5
Q

what are abiotic factors?

A

The non-living factors environment.

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6
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms.

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7
Q

What is competition?

A

organisms need things from their environment and other organisms in order to survive and reproduce. To compete with other or the same species to get the same resources.

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8
Q

What resources do plants compete for?

A

plants need light, space, water, and mineral ions from the soil

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9
Q

What do animals compete for?

A

animals compete for territory, food, water, and mates 

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10
Q

What does interdependence mean?

A

In a community all the species depend on each other to survive. this means that if something were to happen to one species all the others would have a knock on effect.

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11
Q

Name some abiotic factors:

A

moisture level
Light intensity
temperature
carbon dioxide level
wind intensity and direction
oxygen level
soils ph and mineral content

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12
Q

give an example of how light intensity, temperature or level of carbon dioxide could affect a plant?

A

It could decrease the plants rate of photosynthesis and decrease population size.

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13
Q

Name some biotic factors.

A

New predators
Competition
New pathogens
Availability of food

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14
Q

What are adaptations?

A

The features or characteristics of an organism, that allow it to live in different environmental conditions.

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15
Q

What are structural adaptations?

A

physical features on an organisms body structure. E.g. shape or colour.

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16
Q

What is a behavioural adaptation?

A

These are the ways that an organism behaves.

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17
Q

Give an example of behavioural adaptation

A

In winter, birds will migrate to warmer climates during the winter to avoid problems in living conditions of the cold

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18
Q

What is a functional adaptation?

A

things to go on inside of the body to perform different functions.

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19
Q

Give an example of a functional adaptation.

A

Desert animals conserve water be producing very little sweat.

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20
Q

 Why do micro organisms have a huge variety of adaptations?

A

so that they can survive in a wide range of environments. Some microorganisms are known as extremophiles – meaning they’re adapted to living in very extreme conditions

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21
Q

What is the purpose of food chains?

A

Food chain show what is eaten by what in an ecosystem.

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22
Q

What do food chains always start with?

A

A producer

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23
Q

What is a producer?

A

An organism, usually green plants or algae, that produce their own food through photosynthesis.

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24
Q

What is a plants biomass?

A

the mass of the living material.

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25
Q

What can glucose (‘food’) be used for in the plant?

A

It is used to other make biological molecules, called biomass, in the plant.

26
Q

How is energy transferred through a food chain?

A

Through organisms eating each other. This is shown through the arrows in a food chain.

27
Q

How does a food chain work?

A

Producers are eaten by primary consumers, which are eaten by secondary consumers and then tertiary consumers.

28
Q

What are predators?

A

Consumers that hunt and kill other animals.

29
Q

What is the number of a population limited by?

A

The food available.

30
Q

What happens when the population of prey increases?

A

The population of the predators increases.

31
Q

When the population of predators increases, what will happen to the population of the prey?

A

It will decrease.

32
Q

What is a quadrat?

A

A square frame in closing in an area to compare how come in an organism is into simple areas.

33
Q

What is the method on how to use quadrat?

A

place a 1 m² quadrat on the ground a random point within the first sample area.
Count all the organisms within the quadrat.
repeat steps one and two around 10 times.
Work out the mean number of organisms per quadrat within the first sample area.

34
Q

How to use a transect?

A

Mark out a line in the area you want to study using a tape measure. 
then collect data along the line.
you can do this by counting all the organisms online that you’re interested in.

35
Q

What are the four steps of the water cycle?

A

Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration

36
Q

What is transpiration?

A

Energy from the Sun making the water evaporate from the land and sea turning into water vapour.

37
Q

what is condensation?

A

The water vapour is carried upwards and when it gets higher it cools and condenses to form clouds.

38
Q

What is precipitation?

A

Water falling from the clouds on the land heart provides fresh water the plants and animals.

39
Q

How does the carbon cycle work?

A

The carbon in plants gets eaten and passed down the food chain and then it is returned to the environment in waste products or when an organism dies and decays.

40
Q

Why do materials decay?

A

because they are broken down by micro organisms, this happens Faster in warm moist aerobic (oxygen rich) conditions because that’s where micro organisms are more active in.

41
Q

What happens in the Carbon cycle? (simplified)

A

The CO2 in the air is removed by green plants and algae during photosynthesis, the carbon is used to make glucose which can be used to make things that make up the body of the plant.

These plants respire and some carbon is returned to the atmosphere, or the plants are eaten and the carbon moves along the food chain.

When organisms die and are decomposed by microorganisms, they respire and the CO2 is released back into the atmosphere.

42
Q

what is biodiversity?

A

the variety of different species and organisms in an ecosystem.

43
Q

Why is high biodiversity important?

A

because different species depend on each other.

44
Q

Why is the human population rising so rapidly?

A

Mainly due to modern medicine and farming methods.

45
Q

Why are we having such an affect on the environment?

A

Because we are taking its resources. Now more than ever for luxuries

46
Q

What creates water pollution?

A

Sewage and toxic chemicals pollute water, affecting the plants and animals that rely on it. Non biodegradable things like plastic get put into the ocean. chemicals used on land can be washed into the ocean.

47
Q

What causes land pollution?

A

We use toxic chemicals for farming (e.g pesticides and herbicides) we also bury nuclear waste underground, and we dump household waste in landfills

48
Q

What causes air pollution?

A

Smoke and acidic gases released into the atmosphere e.g sulfur dioxide can cause acid rain

49
Q

What do the gases in the atmosphere do?

A

They create an insulating layer to stop or energy being radiated out into space, this increases the temperature of the planet.

50
Q

What would happen if we didn’t have an insulating layer around the world?

A

All of the energy would go into space and we would get very cold.

51
Q

What are the gases in the atmosphere that keep the energy in called?

A

Greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide and methane)

52
Q

What is global warming?

A

The heating up of the Earth due to the increasing levels of greenhouse gases.

53
Q

Why does global warming cause the sea levels to rise?

A

High temperatures cause seawater to expand an ice to melt causing the sea levels to rise. This will lead eventually too lots of habitats for people and animals in low-lying places.

54
Q

Why will species distribution change due to global warming?

A

an example of this is species that require warmer temperatures may spread further and species that need cooler temperatures will have less range.

55
Q

Why is biodiversity affected by global warming?

A

because some species may become unable to survive in the changing climate.

56
Q

what are Peat bogs?

A

Areas of land that are acidic and waterlogged. When plants die they don’t fully decay because there’s not enough oxygen and they build up to form peat.

57
Q

Why is it bad when people drain peat bogs to use for farmland?

A

Because the carbon being stored in the non-decaying plants is released (due to micro organisms decomposing them) into the atmosphere and to oxygen forming CO2, all the pizza is cut up and use the fuel. It’s being used faster than it forms. I’d also destroys habitats that live in peat bogs.

58
Q

why is deforestation an issue?

A

cutting down lots of trees means that they can’t remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is also released if trees are burnt to clear land. It also decrease biodiversity is it destroys habitats for many species.

59
Q

Name some programs that protects the ecosystem and biodiversity.

A

breeding programs are set up to prevent endangered species from becoming extinct.
habitat protection programs are there to protect or regenerate rare habitats (e.g. coral reefs) this protects the species that live there.
Some governments have introduced regulations and programs to reduce the level of deforestation and therefore global warming.
People are encouraged to recycle to reduce the amount of waste getting dumped in landfills.

60
Q

What are the issues with protecting biodiversity?

A

Protecting it cost money and although government sometimes pay farmers to reintroduce things into their land they will often prioritise saving money.
It could also get rid of peoples jobs such as people who cut down trees.
it also conflicts our Food security. 

Biology (9 decks)

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