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Biology > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

1
Q

Ecology

A

Study of interactions between organisms, and between organisms and their environment

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2
Q

Biosphere

A

Part of the planet containing living organisms

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3
Q

Ecosystem

A

Group of clearly distinguished organisms that interact with their environment as a unit

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4
Q

Habitat

A

A place where a plant or animal lives

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5
Q

Population

A

All members of the same species in an area

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6
Q

Community

A

All different populations in an area

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7
Q

Niche

A

Functional role in community; what it eats, what its eaten by, how it interacts with

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8
Q

Nutrient recycling

A

The way elements (like carbon and nitrogen) are exchanged between living + non living components

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9
Q

Nitrogen fixation

A

Conversion of nitrogen gas into ammonia (NH3), ammoniam (NH4) or nitrate (NH3)

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10
Q

Nitrification

A

Conversion of ammonia and ammonium (NH4+) compounds to nitrate and then to nitrate

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11
Q

Dentrification

A

Conversion of nitrates to nitrogen gas

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12
Q

Pollution

A

Any harmful addition to the environment

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13
Q

Pollutants

A

Harmful additions to the environment

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14
Q

Conservation

A

Wise management of existing natural resources in an ecosystem, to maintain a wide range of habitats and prevent extinction and death

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15
Q

Environmental factors affecting organisms

A

Abiotic
Biotic
Climatic
Edaphic

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16
Q

Abiotic

A

Altitude, aspect, steepness, exposure, currents

High altitudes are cooler, wetter, windier
North facing slopes are cooler and darker

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17
Q

Biotic

A

Food, competition, predation, parasitism, pollination, human intervention

More food = more organisms
Competition means organisms fight for food, mates, and shelter

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18
Q

Climatic

A

Temperature, rainfall, humidity, day length, light intensity, wind, salinity

Temp effects rate of reactions
Rainfall provides water

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19
Q

Edaphic

A

soil pH, soil type, organic matter in soil, water air and mineral content of soil

Neutral soils are preferred by most plants
Plants dont grow well in clay soils - too wet

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20
Q

Aquatic factors

A

Currents
Wave action
Light
Salt content
Oxygen concentration

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21
Q

Currents

A

Flowing water carries plants away

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22
Q

Wave action

A

Causes physical damage to organisms, protected by shell

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23
Q

Light

A

Water interferes with light penetration, plants only grow in shallow waters

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24
Q

Salt content

A

Freshwater or Saltwater environments, if unsuitable organisms have problem gaining or losing water (osmoregulation)

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25
Q

Oxygen concentration

A

Lox oxygen concentraion, must be able to extract oxygen from water

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26
Q

Producers

A
  • When animal eats producer, contains energy
  • Sun —→ plant ——> animal 1 —→ animal 2 ——> etc.
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27
Q

Primary consumers

A

Feed on producers

  • Herbivores (animals eat plants)
  • Decomposers (organisms eat dead organic matter like bacteria + fungi)
  • Destrius feeders (organisms eat dead/decomposed plants + animals like worms and mussels)
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28
Q

Secondary consumers

A

Feed on secondary consumers

  • Carnivores (meat eaters)
  • Scavengers (feed on animals killed by other sources)
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29
Q

Tertiary consumers

A

Feed on secondary

  • If no other organism feeds on them theyre TOP consumers
  • Omnivores eat both plants + meat (Humans, Badgers, Blackbirds)
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30
Q

Grazing food chain *

A
  • One organism is eaten by the next
  • E.G. dandelion -> butterfly -> thrush -> hawk
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31
Q

Trophic level*

A
  • Feeding stage
  • Producers level 1, Primary level 2, Secondary level 3
  • E.G. grass ——> rabbit —→ fox
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32
Q

Food web *

A

Two or more interlinked food chains

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33
Q

Pyramid of numbers *

A

Number of organisms at each trophic level

34
Q

Carbon cycle *

A

Carbon from environment is converted to carbon in living things

35
Q

Carbon cycle: role of plants

A
  • Remove carbon through photosynthesis
  • Return carbon through respiration
36
Q

Carbon cycle: role of animals

A
  • Obtain carbon through eating plants
  • Release carbon through respiration
37
Q

Carbon cycle: micro-organisms

A

Return carbon when decomposing dead plants + animals

38
Q

(Global Warming) Rise of carbon concentration

A
  • Increased combustion of fossil fuels
  • Deforestation
39
Q

Consequences of global warming

A
  • Sea levels rise = increased flooding
  • Weather patterns alter = affect wildlife and agriculture
  • Gulf Stream reverse direction of flow = very cold water through Ireland, affect climate
40
Q

Nitrogen cycle *

A

Take nitrogen gas from air and make it usable by living things

41
Q

Nitrogen cycle steps:

A

(INCLUDE DEFINITIONS)

  1. Living things need nitrogen to make proteins, DNA, RNA, and other biomolecules
  2. Nitrogen fixing by volcanic action, lightening, industrail processes
  3. Bacteria and fungi decompose dead organisms and nitrogenous compounds are released
  4. Nitrification by nitrifying bacteria
  5. Denitrification by denitrifying bacteria
42
Q

Nitrogen cycle: plants

A

Absorb nitrates from soil, use nitrogen to form proteins

43
Q

Nitrogen cycle: animals

A

Consume nitrogen from plants to form animal protein

44
Q

Nitrogen cycle: bacteria

A
  • Nitrogen fixing bacteria (convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates)
  • Bacteria of decay (convert nitrogen waste to ammonia)
  • Nitrifying bacteria (convert ammonia to nitrates)
  • Denitrifying bacteria (convert nitrates to nitrogen gas)
45
Q

Nitrogen cycle: fungi

A

Decay dead plants + animals + their wastes into ammonia in the soil

46
Q

Domestic pollution

A

household waste

47
Q

Agricultural pollution

A

sprays to control pests and weeds, overuse of fertilizers, disposal of farmland wastes

48
Q

Industrial pollution

A

smoke that causes acid rain and wastes the may damage streams, rivers, lakes

49
Q

Ozone depletion

A
  • Ozone (O↓3) gas forms a protective layer in upper atmosphere
  • Helps to absorb and shield the Earth from the incoming ultraviolet rays
  • Caused by a range of manufactured chemical pollutants (CFC’S, chlorofluorocarbons)
  • Aerosols, refrigerators (Freon gas), insulating foams (Styrofoam), industrial detergents
50
Q

Effects of Ozone depletion

A

Increase in UV radiation

  • Increased numbers of skin cancers, cataracts, and weakened immunity
  • Serious damge to crops and plants
  • Plankton depletion, huge effects on aquatic food chains and may result in less oxygen
51
Q

Controlling ozone depletion

A
  • Reduction in use of CFC’s (replacing with HFC’s, which break down slower)
  • Sprays or foams that contain CFC’s shouldnt be used
  • Fridges shouldn’t be dumped in landfill sites, but given back to organizations that will dispose properly
52
Q

Conservation benefits

A
  • Prevents extinction
  • Maintains balance of nature
  • Maintains biodiversity
  • Organisms may be useful in future
  • Organisms + habitats are enjoyable to visit
  • We have no right to wipe out other life forms
53
Q

Fisheries problems

A
  • Pollution of rivers, lakes and seas reduces the amount of fish
  • Overfishing has reduced (and wiped out) fish. Now fish quotas have been assigned to ensure enough fish are left
  • Use of small-mesh nets result in too many young fish being caught
54
Q

Fisheries measures

A
  • Taking and analyzing water samples
  • Checking fish catches and fishing equipment
  • Sampling fish stocks to calculate numbers
55
Q

Waste management

A
  • In agriculture, slurry is stored and spread on dry land
  • In fishing, fish wastes are used as fertiliser or pig feed
  • In forestry, parts of trees that aren’t removed are allowed to decay and return nutrients to soil
56
Q

Waste problems

A
  • Cause disease
  • Poisonous chemicals can enter drinking supply or plants
  • Waste nutrients can result in eutrophication and the death of aquatic life
  • Dumping at sea leads to sea pollution
  • Incinerators release toxic fumes
57
Q

Micro-organisms role in waste

A

Break down organic waste in landfill sites

58
Q

Sewage treatment

A
  • Primary (physical) treatment, removes particles by screening or sedimentation
  • Secondary (biological) treatment, bacteria and fungi break down organic waste
  • Tertiary treatment, removes minerals from waste
59
Q

Waste control

A
  • Reduce the consumption of unnecessary materials
  • Reuse as many materials as possible
  • Recycle as much as possible
60
Q

Competition

A

Occurs when organisms actively struggle for resources that is in short supply

61
Q

Intra-specific competition

A

Takes place between members of the same species

62
Q

Inter-specific competition

A

Takes place between members of different species

63
Q

Contest competition

A
  • Physical contest
  • One individual gets resource, other doesnt
  • By displaying territorial behaviour, only the fittest can reproduce. This helps to improve the species, reduce population growth, and conserve food supplies
    • E.G. Birds/Deer defending territory, used for feeding, reproduction, nesting, and raising young. Usually selected and defended by the male animal
64
Q

Scramble competition

A
  • Everyone gets the resouce, but at what cost
  • May mean none of the individuals get as much of the resource as they need and they may not be able to grow and reproduce efficiently
  • Tends to reduce population
    • E.G. Overcrowding seedlings in flowerbeds, none will get the sufficient resources and they will all grow poorly and fail to flower
65
Q

Avoiding competition

A
  • Adapting to their environment
  • E.G. The caterpillar of the ‘cabbage white butterfly’ chews on cabbage leaves, whereas the adult butterfly drinks nectar from flowers. In this way they avoid competition for food
66
Q

Predation

A

Catching, killing, and eating of another organism

67
Q

Predator

A

An organism that catches, kills, and eats another organism

68
Q

Prey

A

Organism eaten by predator

69
Q

Parasitism

A

-When two organisms of different species live in close association and one organism obtains its food from the second organism
- Parasites live in or on the body of the host, normally causing harm
- Often weaken host, but dont kill it
- Some (e.g. diseases and potato blight) do kill, and reduce numbers in population

70
Q

Symbosis

A

When two organisms of different species live in close association and at least one benefits

71
Q

Inferences of pyramid of numbers

A
  • Number of organisms decline as you go up, this is because of energy losses between each trophic level (less energy available to the organisms higher up)
  • The body size usually increases as you go up, because bigger animals tend to eat smaller animals
72
Q

Limitations of pyramid of numbers

A
  • They dont take into account the size of the organism. Therefore 2 main shapes; a normal pyramid of numbers and an inverted pyramid of numbers
  • Numbers of organisms can be so great that the pyramid cant be drawn to scale
73
Q

Plant competition

A
  • Plants compete for space, light, water, and minerals; animals compete for food, water, shelter, territory, and mates
  • Number of organisms is greatly reduced
74
Q

Predator adaptations

A
  • Hawks have excellent sight and can locate prey easily
  • Ladybirds have strong mouthparts to enable them to chew on aphids
  • Whelks produce and acid that dissolves the shell of the mussels, limpets, or barnacles
75
Q

Prey adaptations

A
  • Mice flee and hide to avoid being eaten
  • Frogs are well camouflaged, difficult to see and attack
  • Ladybirds have large amounts of formic acid, which is unpalatable to predators
76
Q

Exoparasites

A
  • Live on the outside of the host
  • Fleas on a dog, mosquitos, blood-sucking leeches on humans
77
Q

Endoparasites

A
  • Lives inside the host
  • Potato blight fungus in potatoes, bacteria and disease in humans, tapeworms in human intestines
78
Q

Symbosis/Mutalism examples

A
  • Cellulose-digesting bacteria in mammalian intestines, where the mammal gets digested food and the bacteria get shelter, warmth, moisture, and food
  • Bacteria in large intestines of humans, where bacteria produce vitamins B and K and get food and shelter
79
Q

Population dynamics

A
  • Availability of food
    • Large numbers of prey increases numbers of predators, as prey is killed off there is less food for predators and the number of predators declines, then prey population rises again
  • Concealment
    • When prey numbers are low, they may successfully camouflage/conceal themselves so preds cant locate them. Allows a small population to survive and eventually re-establish itself
  • Movement of predators
    • If the number of prey t is so small that the predator cannot easily catch sufficient food to survive, the predators move to areas with more prey. This allows the old location to increase in numbers
80
Q

Human population growth

A

War

- Population decrease from deaths
- Increase in birth rates often follows war Famine

- Malnutrition/Death from disease and starvation

Contraception

- Increased availability reduces birth rates

Disease

- Vaccines reduced incidence of diseases (typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, polio)
- Improved sanitation and insecticides controlled malaria, yellow fever, and sleeping sickness
- Safe anesthetics, improved surgical method, new drugs and antibiotics (bacterial infections)
- Reduce in deaths, increase in population

Biology (6 decks)

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