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Biology GCSE Struggles > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

Define a community.

A

Two or more populations of organisms.

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2
Q

Define a species.

A

Organisms that can breed to produce fertile offspring.

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3
Q

Give three causes of environmental changes.

A
  • Seasonal changes
  • Geographic changes
  • Human interaction
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4
Q

Give

Give three environmental changes that affect distribution of organisms.

A
  • Temperature
  • Availability of water
  • Composition of atmospheric gases
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5
Q

What is biogas mainly made of?

A

Methane & carbon dioxide.

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6
Q

What do all biogas generators need?

A
  • An inlet for the material
  • An outlet for the waste material produced
  • An outlet for the biogas to be collected from
    ***
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7
Q

How do you carry out the practical to investigate the rate of decay?

A
  • Measure 10cm3 of milk with a measuring cylinder and put in a test tube
  • Measure 5cm3 of sodium carbonate and put in the test tube
  • Put 3 drops of phenolphthalein into the test tube - it should turn pink
  • Measure 2cm3 of lipase with a calibrated pipette and put in a different test tube
  • Put the test tubes into a water bath at 10 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes so they can acclimatise (measure the temperature with a thermometer)
  • Remove the test tubes from the water bath and pour the lipase enzyme into the milk solution, stirring the mixture with a glass rod
  • Start a stopwatch immediately, stop it when the solution turns from pink to colourless
  • Repeat the steps above twice more to calculate the mean time taken
  • Repeat the steps above at different temperatures, increasing at an interval of 10 degrees e.g. 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 degrees Celcius)
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8
Q

Give the equation for rate.

A

Rate = 1000 / time

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9
Q

How is water affected by pollution?

A
  • Fertilisers
  • Sewage
  • Toxic chemicals
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10
Q

How is the air affected by pollution?

A
  • Acidic gases
  • Smoke
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11
Q

How is land affected by pollution?

A
  • Landfill
  • Toxic chemicals
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12
Q

Give four ways people can use land.

A
  • Building
  • Quarrying
  • Farming
  • Dumping waste
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13
Q

Give four ways people can maintain biodiversity.

A

Any four from:
* Breeding programs
* Protection of habitats
* Recycling waste
* Reintroduction of hedgerows & field margins
* Reduction of deforestation

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14
Q

What needs to be present in order for speciation to occur?

A

A barrier that separates two areas where the conditions differ.

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15
Q

How can biotechnology be used to produce insulin?

A

A genetically-modified bacterium produces human insulin. When
harvested and purified this is used to treat people with diabetes.

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16
Q

How can biotechnology be used to make a greater range of food? How?

A

The fungus Fusarium can be used to produce mycoprotein, a protein-rich
food suitable for vegetarians.
The fungus is grown on glucose syrup, in
aerobic conditions, and the biomass is harvested and purified.
GM crops could provide more food or food with an improved nutritional
value (e.g. golden rice).

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17
Q

Give the three types of adaptations.

A
  • Behavioural
  • Structural
  • Functional
18
Q

What is a functional adaptation? Give an example.

A

Biological processes within the organism e.g. venom.

19
Q

Define an extremophile.
Give an example.

A

Organisms live in environments that are very extreme (such as high temperature, pressure, or salt concentration) e.g. bacteria living in deep sea vents.

20
Q

Give three factors that affect the rate of decay.

A
  • Oxygen availability
  • Water availability
  • Temperature
21
Q

Is biogas produced by aerobic or anaerobic decay?

A

Anaerobic decay.

22
Q

Give the formula for biomass transfer efficiency.

A

the amount from the higher trophic level / the amount from the lower trophic level * 100

23
Q

Only approximately ____% of the biomass from each trophic level is transferred to the level above it.

A

10%.

24
Q

Approximately what percentage of biomass is lost between trophic levels?

A

90%.

25
Q

Give three reasons why lots of biomass is lost between trophic levels.

A
  • not all the biomass is consumed and not all the ingested material is absorbed e.g. bones
  • some ingested material is egested as faeces
  • some absorbed material is lost as waste, e.g. carbon dioxide & water in respiration and water & urea in urine
26
Q

Define mycoprotein.

A

A protein-rich
food suitable for vegetarians, derived from fungi.

27
Q

What conditions are needed to manufacture Quorn?

A
  • The fungus Fusarium is grown with glucose syrup
  • Aerobic conditions
28
Q

How is Quorn produced?

A

The Fusariium fungus is grown on glucose syrup, in aerobic conditions, and the biomass is harvested and purified.

29
Q

Give two advantages of GM crops.

A
  • Resistant to herbicides & pesticides which will increase the yield.
  • Can provide more food with increased nutritional value.
30
Q

Define an embryo translant.

A

When you take cells from an animal embryo and implant it into a mother’s uterus to form a clone.

31
Q

How do embryo transplants work?

A

Splitting apart cells from a developing animal embryo before they become specialised, then transplanting the identical embryos into host mothers.

32
Q

What do you need to do to the egg cell in adult cell cloning to make it divide?

A

Give it an electric shock.

33
Q

What process created Dolly?

A

Adult cell cloning.

34
Q

Gve ab exmaple of a common ‘superbug’ (bacterium resistant to antibiotics.

A

MRSA.

35
Q

Why must you take the full course of antibiotics?

A

To ensure all the bacteria have been destroyed so none can mutate to form antibiotic-resistant strains.

36
Q

Give three types of fossils.

A
  • Gradual replacement by minerals
  • Casts & impressions
  • Preservation where no decay occurs (e.g. amber)
37
Q

How do most fossils form?

A
38
Q

Describe gradual replacement by minerals.

A

Parts of the organism are replaced by minerals as they decay.

39
Q

Describe casts & impressions.

A

Preserved traces of organisms e.g. footprints, burrows and rootlet traces.

40
Q

Describe preservation where no decay occurs.

A

Parts of organisms that have not decayed because one or more of the conditions needed for decay are absent e.g. oxygen or humidity.

41
Q

What does softbodied mean?

A

Organisms are organisms that lack rigid physical skeletons or frame, which left few traces behind (they tend to not form fossils).

42
Q

What is Wallace known for?

A
  • Independently of Darwin, came up with the idea of evolution.
  • Warning colouration.

Biology GCSE Struggles (4 decks)

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