Ecology Flashcards
what is biodiversity
the amount of variation shown by organisms in an ecosystem
what is a food chain
a chart showing the flow of energy from one organism to the next beginning with a producer
what is a producer
an organism that makes its own organic nutrients usually using energy from sunlight through photosynthesis
What is a consumer
an organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
what is a community
All the populations of different species living in a habitat
what are habitats
the place where an organism lives
what are decomposers
an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic matter
what is an ecosystem
All the biotic and abiotic factors, interacting together, in a given area at one time
what are trophic levels
the position of an organism in a food chain or food web
what is a population
the total number of organisms of the same species living in a habitat
what is a biome
areas of our planet that have similar climates, landscapes, organisms. It is a large ecosystem consisting of many habitats
what are food pyramids of numbers
number of organisms in each trophic level in a food chain
what are food pyramid of biomass
total mass of organisms on a trophic level, representing the amount of chemical energy that is stored in living tissue
what is fresh biomass
living organisms
what is dry biomass
mass of plant/animal after water has been removed
what are pyramids of energy transfer
shows the rates of energy flow through trophic levels, not absolute amounts of energy stored. It can have energy units, such as kCAL/m²/yr
how is energy transferred along a food chain
-sunlight energy is converted into chemical energy by plants via photosynthesis
-chemical energy is stored as living matter(biomass)
-when an organism is consumed, biomass is passed along a food chain which means that energy is passed along too
-pyramids of biomass are almost always pyramid shaped as not all biomass is moved from one trophic level to another, so biomass is lost at each stage of the pyramid
why is only 10% of energy from each trophic level passed on to the next
-respiration
-lost in faeces and excretory compounds such as urea. this is passed on to detritivores and saphrotrophs
-energy is used in life processes like moving
-lost as some parts of organisms are not eaten
what is the method for using a quadrat
-randomly assign random coordinates
-place quadrates at chosen coordinates
-count the number of plants in each quadrat
-find average number of plants from quadrat samples
-work out how many quadrats would fit in marked out area
-used this to estimate the number of plants in your marked out section by scaling up your average
how is respiration related to the carbon cycle
it produces carbon dioxide from organic compounds as they are broken down to release energy
How is photosynthesis related to the carbon cycle
photosynthesis fixes carbon atoms from CO2 into organic compounds
how is fossilisation related to the carbon cycle
it occurs when living thing don’t decompose completely. Fossil fuels are formed (coal, oil, natural gas)
how is combustion related to the carbon cycle
combustion releases CO2 into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned
how is feeding and assimilation related to the carbon cycle
feeding and assimilation pass carbon atoms already in organic compounds along the food chain
how is decomposition related to the carbon cycle
it occurs in aerobic situations, decomposers break down dead organisms and the carbon is released through respiration