Ecology Flashcards
What is a ‘habitat’?
- the environment in which an organism lives
What is a ‘population’?
- the total number of organisms of the same species living in the same geographical area
What is a ‘community’?
- the populations of all of the different species that live in the same habitat
What is an ‘ecosystem’?
- the interaction of a community of biotic parts with the abiotic parts of their environment
What is the difference between ‘biotic’ and ‘abiotic’?
biotic = living organisms
abiotic = non-living parts
What do organisms need to survive and reproduce?
- organisms require a supply of materials from their surroundings and from the other living organisms there
What 4 main factors do plants in a community or habitat often compete for?
- light
- space
- water
- mineral ions
What 4 main factors do animals often compete with each other for?
- food
- water
- mates
- territory
What is the term for how within a community, each species depends on other species for certain things; if one species is removed, it can affect the whole community?
interdependence
What makes a community be stable?
- a stable community is one where all the species and environmental factors are in balance => population sizes remain fairly constant
Give 4 examples of factors that species depend on other species for?
- food (eg. lions depend on gazelles to eat)
- shelter (eg. animals may depend on trees to provide shelter from the Sun)
- pollination (eg. flowers depend on bees)
- seed dispersal (eg. flowers depend on birds to disperse seeds in their faeces)
How would a change in the availability of food affect organisms in a community?
- availability of food falls => the populations of species would also fall as they have less food to eat => less likely to survive and live on to reproduce
- availability of food increases => the populations of species would also increase
How would the arrival of a new predator affect organisms in a community?
=> population of a prey species will fall
=> more competition for existing predators that eat the same food as the new predator => less food
How does the level of competition affect organisms in a community?
- if a species is outcompeted, its population can fall => may even become extinct if numbers are insufficient to breed
How would the arrival of new pathogens affect organisms in a community?
- if an infectious disease emerges and spreads, it can wipe out a population of a species
How does changing light intensity affect plants?
- if the light intensity is too low, the rate of photsynthesis falls => plants will grow more slowly => animals may not have enough food
How does changing temperature affect plants?
- if temperature changes significantly, the distribution of a species may change (eg. animals could migrate or plant species may disappear from that area)
How do moisture levels affect organisms in a community?
- both plants and animals need water to survive => if there are low levels of moisture, plants that are not adapted may die
How does soil affect plants?
- many plants cannot grow on soil which is too acidic or too alkaline
- plants also need certain mineral from the soil
How does wind intensity and direction affect plants?
- stronger winds may cause plants to lose water via transpiration
How do the carbon dioxide levels affect plants?
- a higher carbon dioxide concentration means plants can photosynthesise more
How do the oxygen levels in water affect aquatic animals?
- aquatic animals need dissolved oxygen from the water for respiration
What is the difference between the 3 types of adaptations?
- structural adaptations relate to the physical body shape or body structure
- functional adaptations relate to the body functions of an organism
- behavioural adapatations relate to the animal’s lifestyle or behaviour (things that the animal does)
How are camels STRUCTURALLY adapted to the hot and dry conditions of a desert?
- camels have a hump on their back which is a store of fat, a thermal insulator (by storing the fat in one place, this allows heat loss from the other parts of the camel’s body => reduces water loss from sweating) + metabolic reactions can be used to produce water from the fat
- thick coat on the upper surface of their body => insulates the top of the camel from the heat of the Sun => reduces water loss from sweating
- the inside of a camel’s mouth is leathery => allows camel to shew desert plants (which often have thorns)
- camels have long eyelashes => keep dust out of their eyes
- camels can close their nostrils => keep dust out of their nose
- camels have wide feet => prevents the camel from sinking into the sand
How are camels FUNCTIONALLY adapted to the hot and dry conditions of a desert?
- camels produce CONCENTRATED URINE and DRY FAECES => reduce water loss
- camels can tolerate very large changes in their body temperature => helps them to cope with the intense heat of the desert
What are different ways that some animals BEHAVIOURALLY adapted to survive in both hot and cool conditions?
- some animals are NOCTURNAL (mainly active at night when it is cooler) => avoid the heat of the daytime + these animals may also live in burrows underground during the day => keep cool and protects them from predators
- some animals, eg. polar bears, hibernate during the winter to avoid the cold (the animal becomes inactive and all the body processes slow down)
- some animals, eg. some birds, migrate south to warmer climates
How are some animals STRUCTURALLY adapted to survive the cold climate?
- very thick fur => provides insulation and reduces heat loss to the air
- fur on the soles of their feet, eg. the Arctic fox => reduces heat loss to the ice and the snow
- very small ears => reduces the overall surface area of the animal, eg. the Arctic fox => reducing heat loss
- white coat => effective camouflage (helps the animal to hunt its prey)
How are cacti adapted to live in the dry desert?
- very small leaves => reduce surface area for water loss (or even no leaves at all, only spines which also protect the cacti from animals)
- extensive and shallow roots => absorb maximum water after rainfall
- cacti can store water in their stems => survive many months without rain
What are ‘extremophiles’?
- organisms that live in environments with extreme conditions, eg. bacteria that live in deep sea vents
Give 3 examples of extreme conditions that an extremophile may be able to survive in?
- high temperature
- high pressure
- high salt concentration
What do food chains represent?
- feeding relationships within a community
What do all food chains begin with?
- all food chains begin with a PRODUCER which synthesise complex molecules (biomass)
- this is usually a green plant or alga which makes glucose by photosynthesis
What is the general food chain?
producer => primary consumer (prey) => secondary consumer => tertiarry consumer => apex predator
What are transects and quadrats used for?
- a range of experimental methods using transects and quadrats are used by ecologists to determine the distribution and abundance of species in an ecosystem
What is random sampling used for?
How is random sampling done? What is a quadrat?
What can we sample with this method?
- used to compare the numbers of organisms in different areas
- by using a quadrat (a wooden/plastic square)
- we throw the quadrat randomly and then count the number of organisms inside wherever it lands
=> we can use random sampling to sample plants or slow-moving animals
How can we increase the validity of random sampling?
- throwing the quadrat a large number of times
How can we increase the accuracy of random sampling?
- using a smaller quadrat
In random sampling, what is the equation to estimate the total population size of a species?
(total area / area sampled) x number of organisms of that species counted in sample
What is sampling along a transect used for?
What is a transect? How is sampling along a transect done?
- to investigate how the numbers of species change as we move across a habitat
- a transect is simply a line (eg. a tape measure of a piece of rope)
- we use a quadrat to count the organisms at intervals on the transect