Ecology Flashcards
What is the environment
The environment is everything that surrounds an animal or plant (for example air, water, rocks and soil
What is a habitat
The habitat is a place where a plant or animal lives
What organisms live in a woodland habitat
Hedgehogs, snail, foxes, primroses, oak, ash and beach trees
Interdependence
How organisms depend on each other for survival e.g. Bees need buttercups and buttercups need bees,
Hedgehogs depend on dead leaves
Birds depend on trees
Ecosystem
All plant and animals in an area interacting with each other and their environment. E.g. Desert, tropical rainforest, grasslands and the seashore
Producer
Plants that make their own food e.g. Grass, dandelion, nettles
Consumer
Animals that get their food by eating plants or other animals
Herbivore
An animal that eats plants only e.g. Rabbits, sheep, slugs and snails
Carnivore
An animal that eats other animals only e.g. Foxes, hawks and ladybirds
Omnivore
An animal that eats both planes and animals e.g. Badger, thrush, blackbird and human
Food chain
Shows how one organism eats another and so on, must start with green plants
Feeding levels
The position of an organism in the food chain is called it’s feeding level
Food web
A food web is two or more interconnected food chains
Competition
Competition occurs when two or more organisms seek a resource that is limited e.g. Plants compete for light, water, minerals and space. Animals compete for food, shelter, territory and mates
Adaptations
Adaptations are features that give an organism a better chance of surviving in their habitat
How are dandelions adapted to their surroundings
Long roots to get water and can spread their seed in the wind
How are hedgehogs adapting to their surroundings
Hedgehogs have an excellent sense of smell to make them good at finding food,they have spikes to fight Of predators, and their colour makes them camouflaged
Conservation
Conservation is the protection, preservation and careful use of our natural resources
Our natural resources
Our natural resources include land, rivers, seas, plants and animals
If we don’t protect these the environment could:
Be destroyed and plants and animals may become extinct
Pollution
Pollution is adding unwanted waste builds up it may kill a certain plant or animal, the balance of nature could be damaged
Air pollution
Air pollution is caused by smoke, dust and harmful gases - most of these come from cars, buses, factories and power stations
Acid rain
When fossil fuels are burned they produce gases called carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, these dissolve in rainwater to form carbonic acid and sulfuric acid
Damage the avid rain can do?
Dissolve/burn plants or buildings
Soil pollution
Caused by pesticides, artificial fertilisers and acid rain
Water pollution
Rivers,lakes and seas are polluted by fertilisers, sewage, oil and detergent
How do we deal with waste
Burning the waste, this can release dangerous gases into the atmosphere, difficulties with location nobody wants to live near an incinerator
Household waste
Can cause rubbish
Landfill
Burying the waste in ground - damages soil, rivers and ground water, attract rodents, disease causing, bad smell, difficulties as nobody wants to live near landfill sites
Medical waste
Can cause disease
Industrial waste
Is toxic chemicals
Recycling
Paper, glass, some metals and plastics can be processed and reused. (Made into something else).
Nuclear waste
Is radioactive
Reduce
Use your own bag, do not pick the items with extra packaging ( use less extra packaging )
Pollutant
The actual object that you use to pollute
What is ecology
Ecology is the study of plants, animals and their environment, and the relationship between them
