Ecology Flashcards
What are some abiotic factors?
- Temperature
- Carbon dioxide concentration
- Rainfall/water availability
- Light intensity
- pH of soil
- Minerals in soil
- Oxygen concentration
What are some biotic factors?
- New competetor
- Change in food availability
- New pathogen
- New predator
What are the three types of environmental change?
- Seasonal change
- Geographical change
- Human impacts
What is a structural adaption?
A physical adaption that helps the organism to survive.
What is a functional adaption?
A process that the organism does which helps them to survive, e.g. skunks producing a smelly liquid.
What are the 3 types of adaption?
- Structural
- Functional
- Behavioral
What are extremophyles?
Organisms that can survive in extreme environments.
What are some problems with the growing human population?
- Not enough space for farming and building
- Too much waste to process
- Pollution
- Lack of resources (water, food, construction)
What are 3 reasons for deforistation?
- Land for crops
- Land for animals
- Wood for construction
What are the conditions in a peat bog?
- Wet
- Acidic
- No trees
- Low levels of nutrients
What are the uses of peat?
- Fuel
- Compost
Where is methane emitted?
- Cattle farms
- Rice farms
How can biodiversity be maintained?
- Reduce deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions
- Field margins and hedgerows
- Recycling (land use and energy reduction)
- Breeding programs
- Habitat protection
What is food security?
The ability of human populations to access food of a sufficient quality and quantity.
What are 4 things that threaten food security?
- Population growth
- More extreme weather
- Larger incomes (more meat/dairy demand)
- Uneven distribution
Why is energy lost as you move through the food chain?
- Respiration
- Loss as Faeces
- Not all of an organism is eaten
What are 4 factory farming techniques?
- Restricting movement
- Feeding high protein diet
- Heating barns
- Antibiotics for healthy animals
Why are animals in factory farms fed a high protein diet?
To make them grow quicker and larger
Why are animals in factory farms given antibiotics when healthy?
To prevent disease which spreads quickly in crowded conditions.
What does minimum landing size do to maintain fish stocks?
It allows younger fish to escape and reproduce.
What is the gauge of fishing nets?
The size of the holes in the net.
What is used to produce mycoprotein?
A fusarium fermenter.
Why is ammonia and air added to a fusarium fermenter?
- To provide nitrogen
- To provide oxygen for respiration
- Bubbles also move contents of the fermenter (in a loop fermenter)
Why does a fusarium fermenter have cooling coils?
To cool the fungus as the fermenter naturally heats up as the fungus respire.
What conditions are needed for decomposers?
- Warmth
- Oxygen
- Nutrients
- Moisture
- Correct pH
