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Science Sec 4, EST > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is a community?

A

A community is the “group” formed when
all the different populations of species
share the same habitat.

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2
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

ALL living things represents the Biodiversity of a habitat!

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3
Q

How is biodiversity measured?

A

Biodiversity is measured using 2 components:
1. Species Richness: total number of species in the community
2. Relative Abundance: the number of each species in relation to the total organisms in the community.

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4
Q

What makes for HIGH Biodiversity?

A

1) The species richness is high.
2) The relative abundance of different
species is similar/dissimliar.

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5
Q

What is an Ecosystem?

A

An Ecosystem is a community of species interacting in a given environment.
This includes the abiotic factors of the habitat, such air, soil, water, etc

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6
Q

Micro-habitat: Examples

A
  • Tree stump
  • Aquarium
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7
Q

Macro-habitats: Examples

A
  • Caribbean ocean
  • African planes
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8
Q

Trophic Relationships can be represented by:

A

A food chain

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9
Q

How many trophies levels are there?

A

Three

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10
Q

What are the three tropic levels?

A

1) Producer
2) Consumer
3) Decomposer

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11
Q

Dynamics of an ecosystem:

A

How does energy flow?

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12
Q

What are food chains?

A

Representations of the trophic relationships between different living
things.

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13
Q

What are food webs?

A

A group of interrelated food
chains.

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14
Q

Which direction do arrows point?

A

In the direction of energy, food to mouth.

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15
Q

What is energy flow?

A

Matter and energy are transferred/transformed in a food
chain.

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16
Q

What is biomass?

A

All of the organic matter in an ecosystem

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17
Q

What does biomass represent?

A

The total mass of living matter in an environment at any given time.

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18
Q

With each tropic level, energy and biomass…

A

decrease

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19
Q

Why does energy and biomass decrease with each trophic level?

A

Organisms give off energy to breathe, eat, reproduce, move etc.

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20
Q

What do trophic levels affect?

A

Relative abundance and population size for
the whole ecosystem to remain in balance!

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21
Q

With each trophic level increase

A

10% of energy/biomass is lost

22
Q

What are producers?

A

Autotrophs, they produce their own food.

23
Q

What do producers do?

A

Producers convert inorganic matter into organic material.
A principal mechanism includes production of sugar: photosynthesis.

24
Q

What are Cyanobacteria?

A

They are producers. They were the first unicellular organism to produce energy in
Earth’s history.

25
Q

What is primary productivity?

A

is the total quantity of new organic material made by the producers in an ecosystem over a certain period.
It depends on factors: sunlight, CO2 concentration, nutrient availability, water, and temperature.

26
Q

In what condition do plants and algae produce the most matter?

A

Between 20-25 degrees Celsius.
Productivity is highest in warm and humid areas.

27
Q

What are consumers?

A

Heterotrophs because they get their food
from a variety other living things.

28
Q

What consumers are there?

A

Primary - Herbivores, feed on producers or their seeds
Secondary and Tertiary - Carnivores, Feed on animals on the level below them
Omnivores, consumers of all levels at once.

29
Q

What are decomposes?

A

They feed on dead matter and/or (some
feed on) waste of producers &
consumers
This connects them to all of the trophic
levels!
Fungi and Bacteria.

30
Q

What is chemical recycling?

A

Chemical Recycling occurs when decomposers make inorganic matter available in an ecosystem by breaking down organic matter.
At each trophic level in a food chain a certain amount of material is recycled by decomposers back into nutrients that producers can use.

31
Q

What is the Law Of Conservation of Matter

A

Matter can not be created nor destroyed, it can only be transferred or transformed.

32
Q

What is a Disturbance?

A

A Disturbance is an event that disrupts an ecosystem. It can lead to the elimination
of organisms (extinction) and change the availability of resources.

33
Q

What are the two types of disturbances?

A
  • Natural
    Disturbances occur due to
    environmental phenomena such as:
  • Human Disturbances are
    the main form of ecological
    disturbance on Earth
34
Q

What is ecological succession?

A

The series of changes that occur over time in an ecosystem after a disturbance and that continue until the balance of the ecosystem is restored.

35
Q

What is an ecological footprint?

A

An ecological footprint is the estimate of how much of the available resources we consume and how much waste we generate.

36
Q

How do you calculate ecological footprint?

A

+ Land and water used to produce goods and services
+ Land and water used to dispose of waste
+ Land and water occupied

37
Q

How to Calculate the Happy Planet Index?

A

HPI = (Experienced well being x Life expectancy) / Ecological footprint

38
Q

What is Ecotoxicology?

A

Human activities disturb ecosystems.
These include industrial and agricultural activities and the creation of waste which releases different substances or poisons into the environment.

39
Q

What are contaminants?

A

They are many type of substances or radiation that is likely to cause harm to one or more ecosystems.

40
Q

What are the 4 classes of contaminants?

A
  • Inorganic
  • Organic
  • Microbial
  • Radioactive
41
Q

What is the Toxicity Threshold?

A

The Toxicity Threshold is the amount of a
contaminant that will cause harm in an
organism. Harm from contaminant can range from mutations to fertility loss to death.

42
Q

What Factors Determine Toxicity?

A

1) Concentration
2) Type of organism (how doe it affect the bio chemistry)
3) Duration of exposure

43
Q

What is dosage dependent on?

A

Weight!

44
Q

What is a toxicity threshold?

A

Toxicity Threshold is the minimum level of
concentration at which the contaminant causes harm (mg/kg).

45
Q

What is a lethal dose?

A

Lethal Dose is the amount of contaminant necessary to kill an organism in a single dose.

46
Q

What is LD Fifty

A

Lethal Dose Fifty (LD50) is the dose that causes the death within 50% of individuals.

47
Q

What is Bio/accumulation/concentration/ magnification?

A
  • It is the degree to which a
    toxin can accumulate in a
    living organism through
    inhalation, ingestion
    and/or dermal exposure.
  • These contaminants resist
    natural degradation and
    cannot be eliminated.
48
Q

Bioaccumulation, Bioconcentration or Biomagnification: Example of Degree of Intoxication

A
  • Once the contaminated producer (plant) is consumed, the toxin can become stored in the fat tissues of the consumer.
  • The consumers must consume A LOT of producers causing the concentration of the toxin to be accumulated in the consumer than in the producer and so on.
49
Q

What is Bioremediation?

A
  • Biotechnology can help fix
    some of our past mistakes.
  • We can take certain microbes / biological species add them to a region that has
    particular contaminants and have them degrade them. This considered
    bioremediation.
50
Q
A

Science Sec 4, EST (4 decks)

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