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Biology > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms with the non-living parts of their environment

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2
Q

Give 4 things plants compete for

A
  1. Light
  2. Space
  3. Water
  4. Mineral ions
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3
Q

Give 4 things animals compete for.

A
  1. Space
  2. Food
  3. Water
  4. Mates
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4
Q

What is interdependence?

A

The idea that a major change in an ecosystem can have large knock-on effects

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5
Q

Give 4 abiotic factors.

A
  1. Light intensity
  2. Temperature
  3. Wind intensity
  4. Oxygen level
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6
Q

Give 4 biotic factors.

A
  1. New predators
  2. Competition
  3. New pathogens
  4. Availability of food
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7
Q

What are structural adaptations?

A

A change in an organism’s shape or colour e.g coloured fur for camouflage

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8
Q

What are behavioural adaptations?

A

Change in the way organisms behave e.g migration

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9
Q

What are functional adaptations?

A

Change in processes inside an organism’s body e.g lowered metabolism during hibernation

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10
Q

What are extremophiles?

A

Often microorganisms which have adapted to live in extreme conditions

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11
Q

What is biomass?

A

Energy stored in a plant/ mass of living material

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12
Q

What happens when an organism eats another

A

Energy is transferred

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13
Q

3 environmental changes which can affect distribution of organisms?

A
  1. Availability of water
  2. Temperature
  3. Change in atmospheric gases
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14
Q

Explain predator prey cycles (4)

A
  1. The population of species is limited by food availability
  2. If population of prey increases, so do the predators
  3. But if the population of predators increase, prey decrease
  4. They are always out of sync as the other needs time to catch up
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15
Q

Explain the water cycle (4)

A
  1. The Sun causes water from seas and the land to evaporate into water vapour
  2. The warm water vapour travels upwards, until it condenses to form clouds
  3. Water falls from clouds as precipitation back to Earth
  4. It drains into seas where the cycle repeats
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16
Q

How does decay recycle elements? (4)

A
  1. Organisms release elements into their surroundings when they die and decay
  2. Materials decay when microorganisms break them down
  3. Decay puts useful materials and nutrients for plants back into the soil
  4. In a stable community materials taken out of the soil are balanced by the ones going back in
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17
Q

How is carbon dioxide removed from the air?

A

Photosynthesis

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18
Q

Give 4 ways carbon is returned to the atmosphere.

A
  1. Respiration
  2. Animals and food chains
  3. Microorganisms breaking down dead matter
  4. Burning of fossil fuels
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19
Q

What is compost?

A

Decomposed organic matter used as a natural fertiliser

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20
Q

Give 4 factors that affect rate of decay.

A
  1. Temperature (warmth = quicker, too hot or too cold = slower)
  2. Oxygen availability
  3. Water availability
  4. Number of microorganisms
21
Q

Give 2 ways biogas is made.

A
  1. Plant and animal waste decayed anaerobically to produce methane
  2. Sludge waste
22
Q

Why must biogas be used immediately?

A

It cannot be stored as a liquid

23
Q

What is the difference between batch generators and continuous generators?

A

Batch generators make biogas in small batches and manually loaded and cleaned away after every batch. Continuous generators are constantly making biogas.

24
Q

What are the 3 parts of a biogas generator?

A
  1. An inlet for waste material
  2. An outlet for digested material to be removed
  3. An outlet for biogas to be pumped where it’s needed
25
Q

Why is high biodiversity important? (2)

A
  1. Stable ecosytems
  2. Physical environments have the right conditions
26
Q

Why is Earth’s population growing? (2)

A

Modern medicine and farming

27
Q

Issue with people demanding a higher quality of life?

A

Raw materials are being used quicker than they’re being replaced

28
Q

What are 3 things pollution affects?

A
  1. water
  2. earth/ground
  3. air
29
Q

Explain the Greenhouse Effect.

A
  1. The Sun radiates heat towards Earth and the Earth reflects it back into space
  2. An insulating layer of gases in the atmosphere trap the heat and radiate it back towards Earth
  3. The layer of gases is too thick and radiating too much heat back to Earth causing global warming
30
Q

Give 4 impacts of global warming.

A
  1. Melting ice caps mean rising sea levels
  2. Distribution of animals
  3. Migration patterns
  4. Reduced biodiversity
31
Q

2 reasons for deforestation?

A
  1. Land for farming
  2. Space for crops for biofuel
32
Q

3 ways deforestation contributes to CO2 emissions?

A
  1. They trap carbon
  2. Microorganisms feed on dead trees and respire, releasing CO2
  3. Habitats destroyed
33
Q

What is peat?

A

Partly-rotted organisms that don’t fully decay when they die because there isn’t enough oxygen so store the organism’s carbon.

34
Q

3 ways peat bog destruction contributes to carbon emissions?

A
  1. Carbon stored in the peat is released
  2. Microorganisms decompose the peat and respire, releasing carbon dioxide
  3. Habitat destruction
35
Q

4 programmes set up to preserve biodiversity?

A
  1. Breeding programmes for endangered species
  2. Regenerate rare habitats (Maldives)
  3. Reduce deforestation
  4. Reduce amount of waste dumped in landfill
36
Q

Conflicting pressures with protecting biodiversity? (4)

A
  1. Expensive
  2. Unemployment for many
  3. Food security
  4. Development
37
Q

What is a producer?

A

An organism which makes its own food through photosynthesis

38
Q

What is a primary consumer?

A

An organism which eats producers

39
Q

How do decomposers decay dead organisms?

A

Releasing enzymes which break dead stuff down into small soluble food molecules

40
Q

What does each bar on a biomass pyramid represent?

A

Relative mass of living material at a trophic level

41
Q

Give 2 ways biomass is lost in a food chain.

A
  1. Organisms don’t always eat every part of the organism they’re eating
  2. Organisms don’t absorb all of the energy from their food
42
Q

Give the equation for efficiency of biomass transfer.

A

Efficiency = biomass transferred to next level/ biomass available at previous level x 100

43
Q

Give 4 factors that affect food security.

A
  1. Population increasing
  2. Farming can be affected by new pathogens
  3. Too expensive
  4. War/ conflict
44
Q

2 ways fish stocks can be conserved?

A
  1. Limits on number and size of fish allowed to be caught
  2. Smaller net size to prevent catching unwanted fish
45
Q

3 ways food production can be made more efficient?

A

1.Factory farming to reduce energy used by movement, so more can be used for growth
2. Same for fish in smaller cages
3. High protein diets

46
Q

What is mycoprotein used for?

A

To make high protein meat substitutes for vegetarians

47
Q

How is bacteria engineered to make human insulin? (5)

A
  1. A loop of DNA is removed from a bacterium
  2. The insulin gene is cut out of a human chromosome using a restriction enzyme to leave a sticky end
  3. The bacterium is cut open with the same enzyme, leaving the same sticky end
  4. Ligase joins the two together
  5. The recombinant DNA is inserted into a bacterium
48
Q

Give 3 ways crops can be genetically modified.

A
  1. More resistant to pests
  2. To grow better in certain conditions
  3. More nutritional value (Golden rice)
49
Q

Give 3 reasons genetically modifying crops is controversial?

A
  1. Poverty should be tackled first
  2. Countries could become dependant
  3. Poor soil

Biology (7 decks)

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