Ecology Flashcards
Key Terms
Environment - The natural world as a whole or in a particular geographical area
Habitat - Area where specific organisms live. Can be many habitats in an ecosystem
Population - All of the organisms/individual of the same species at one time
Community - The population of all species in an ecosystem at one time
Studying ecosystem
- Ecologists work to study and monitor ecosystems
- Monitoring population sizes and distribution
- Could be long and challenging (counting Daisy’s in fields)
- So instead they use a sampling technique using Quadrats which takes estimates and is alot quicker
Ecosystems
A community of animals, plants and micro-Organisms that interact with each other and the habitat they live in
- Could be pond or forest - Size no issue
Food chain
Plant1 > Mouse2 > snake3 > Birds of prey4 All Of before > Decomposers5
1) Producers = Plants which P.S to produce food
2) Primary
3) Secondary Consumers - Animals that eat a
4) Tertiary animals or plant
5) Decomposers - Decompose or decay dead materials (recycles nutrients)
Nitrogen Cycle
1) Gaseous/Atmospheric nitrogen goes to soil in a few ways: Heat created from lightning is enough to turn nitrogen into nitrates
2) Farmers uses fertilizers (With nitrates in) to grow crops - When cow or any animal eats these plants they too have nitrates in them
3) When Animals/Plants die, They decompose with the help of bacteria and fungi which turns organic material into NH4 (Ammonium)
Step 4) Nitrifying bacteria the turn NH4 into nitrites (NO2) and then further nitrification into nitrates (NO3)
Step 5) The cycle continues as denitrification takes place. Denitrifying bacteria break down the nitrates into Gases - N2 + O2
Nitrogen running off into lakes is called Eutrophication. Alge Bloom which starves sunlight and oxygen to pond = death of life
