Ecology

Question 1

What does population mean?

Answer 1

A group of individuals of the same species

Question 2

What is a community?

Answer 2

Its when several populations of different species across all kingdoms living in an habitat.

Question 3

What is a ecosystem?

Answer 3

Ecosystem is when communities interact with each other (biotic) as well as the environment (abiotic)

Question 4

What is interdependence?

Answer 4

Interdependence is when each species in a community depends on one another for food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal and any change can affect lots of different species.

Question 5

What is a abiotic factor?

Answer 5

Non living factors

Example: Moisture levels, Light intensity, Temperature, CO2, Soil Acidity.

Question 6

What is a biotic factor?

Answer 6

Living factors

Example: New predators, Competition, New Pathogens/ Parasites, Food Availability.

Question 7

What is a stable community?

Answer 7

When abiotic and biotic factors rarely change and all the population numbers are kept roughly constant.

Example: Tropical rainforests

Question 8

Name adaptations that predators might have.

Answer 8

Sharp teeth / Claws

Forward facing eyes for depth perception.

Speed / Strength

Question 9

What adaptations would prey have?

Answer 9

Eyes on the side of head for wide vision.

Camouflage.

Warning Colours

Agile/ Fast.

Question 10

What are the functional adaptations for hot and cold weather animals?

Answer 10

Animals that live in the cold can hibernate.

Animals that live in hot temperatures can produce less urine.

Question 11

What are plant adaptations to absorb more light?

Answer 11

Taller.

Broader leaves.

More chlorophyll.

Question 12

How is a cactus adapted to absorb water.

Answer 12

Wide, shallow roots to absorb water when it rains in the desert.

Doesn’t have leaves to reduce surface area for the stomata to lose water.

Sunken stomata to limit transpiration.

Question 13

What is a extremophile?

Answer 13

A EXTREMOPHILE live in extreme environment to avoid competition.

Question 14

Name a bacteria that can live in extremophilic hot conditions.

Answer 14

Thermophilic bacteria.

Question 15

Why are arctic animals often relatively large?

Answer 15

Animals in cold arctic conditions (e.g. seals, whales, polar bears) are relatively large because this gives them a small surface area to volume ratio.

This reduces the transfer of energy to the environment and therefore minimises heat loss.

Question 16

Which piece of equipment can be used to estimate the population size of a given species in a defined area?

Answer 16

Quadrat.

Question 17

A field measures 10 m by 30 m. In ten 1 m2 quadrats thrown randomly onto the field, an average of 5 flowers is counted. What is the estimated number of flowers on the whole field?

Answer 17

30 x 10 = 300 x 5 = 1500 estimated flowers in the field

Question 18

What is a quadrat placed along a transect used to measure?

Answer 18

A change in species distribution along a set line

Question 19

Describe a method that the student could use to estimate the number of
Buttercups on the field.

Answer 19

Randomly place a quadrat on the field [1]

throw behind back/use a random number generator to ensure random placement [1]

count the number of buttercups inside quadrat [1]

repeat this 10 (or any other number) more times [1]

calculate the average number of buttercups per quadrat/total number of
buttercups counted divided by the number of times the quadrat was thrown [1]

(1 quadrat fits into the field 1000 times so…) multiply this average by 1000 [1] (to give an estimate of the total number of buttercups on the field)