Ecology

Question 1

What is a food web?

Answer 1

A food web is the movement of energy in an ecosystem through eating.

Question 2

What is a producer?

Answer 2

A producer is an organism that gets its energy from the sun through a process called photosynthesis. A producer doesn’t need to eat and therefore has it the easy way. Producers fall at the bottom of a food web.

Question 3

What is a consumer?

Answer 3

A consumer is a person that eats to get energy. There are many consumers that are on different levels of the food web. Primary consumers eat producers, secondary consumers eat primary consumers, it goes on through tertiary and occasionally quartenary consumers. The organism that does not get eaten by anything is called a top consumer.

Question 4

What is the pyramid of numbers?

Answer 4

The pyramid of numbers is a pyramid that represent the different number of organisms on each level. There are always many organisms at the bottom of the food web, and less organisms as we go up the food web. This is to balance the ecosystem out.

Question 5

What is an introduced species?

Answer 5

An introduced species is a species that people bring in, or “introduce” into a new ecosystem in which the species doesn’t belong. Usually this can be good if controlled but some introduced species like the introduction of the cane toad really put its ecosystem at risk.

Question 6

What is biological control?

Answer 6

When introducing a species, one of the ways to control its population was through biological control. Biological control is introducing an organism that eats the introduced species. Sometimes this is good, but sometimes, if used incorrectly, can put the ecosystem at risk.

Question 7

What is the biosphere?

Answer 7

The biosphere is all the spheres of life, which are the atmosphere, the hydroshpere and the lithosphere.

Question 8

What is the atmosphere?

Answer 8

The atmosphere is the sphere of gases that cover the earth. The atmosphere mainly includes nitrogen and oxygen.

Question 9

What is the hydroshpere?

Answer 9

The hydroshpere is the sphere of water covering earth, coming from hydro = water. Many organisms like fish live in here.

Question 10

What is the lithosphere?

Answer 10

The lithosphere is the shpere of land that is earth. Many, many organisms like mammals live here.

Question 11

What is biodiversity?

Answer 11

Biodiversity is the variety of the different species and organisms in the world.

Question 12

What are the three levels of biodiversity?

Answer 12

Genetic, Species and Ecological.

Question 13

What is genetic biodiversity?

Answer 13

Genetic biodiversity is the variety of the genetic code that makes up a living being. Everyone within their own species is different in this way.

Question 14

What is species diversity?

Answer 14

Species diversity is the variety of the different species in a certain ecosystem. For example, elephants, giraffes and lions in a savannah ecosystem.

Question 15

What is ecological diversity?

Answer 15

Ecological diversity is the variety of all the ecosystems on earth, like savannah, rainforest, tundra and desert.

Question 16

What are adaptations?

Answer 16

An adaptation is the way that a species changes itself to survie in a changing environment.

Question 17

What are the two differenet types of adaptations?

Answer 17

Physical and Behavioural

Question 18

What is a physical adaptation?

Answer 18

A physical adaptation is when an animal changes its physical attributes in order to survive. For example, a gorilla loses its coat of fur to survive the hotter weather.

Question 19

What is a Behavioural adaptation?

Answer 19

A behavioural adaptation is when a species changes its behaviour in order to survive in the changing environment. For example, a turtle decided to swim more because fish are harder to find.

Question 20

Where do these adaptations originate?

Answer 20

Physical adaptations occur within a species in times of ecological crisis. For example, a group of animals decided they need to climb in order to get food on trees.
Behavioural adaptations are learnt from parents and are passed down through the generations.

Question 21

What are decomposers?

Answer 21

Decomposers are organisms that break down dead bodies in order to bring nutrients into the soil.

Question 22

What is a population?

Answer 22

A population in ecology is the a group of the same species living together.

Question 23

What is a community?

Answer 23

A community in ecology is the populations of different species interacting with each other.