Ecology Flashcards
What is a quadrat?
A square frame of known area used for sampling the abundance and distribution of slow or non-moving organisms.
When do you count a organism?
When it is half or more inside the quadrat square.
What do you use Transect for?
To see the number of organism change as we move across a habitat.
What is a Transect?
It is a line e.g a tape or piece of rope used to measure.
What is a community?
A group of organisms interacting in a similar area
What is a trofic level
The feeding levels in the food chain
Producer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer
Tertiary consumer
Why is energy lost in the food chain?
Energy is lost through respiration,movement and can not all be absorbed so the predator receives less energy each time
Where is the most energy lost on a food triangle
From the sun to plants
What is adaptation?
Adaptation is the special features that make an organism well suited to its environment
What do animals compete for?
- mates
- food
- territory
- water
What do plants compete for?
- nutrients
- water
- light
What happens to the carbon in an organism when it dies?
It is released into the atmosphere
Biological process that produces carbon dioxide?
Respiration
How do humans contribute to carbon emissions?
Respiration
Burning fossil fuels
Cars
What is interdependence?
Depending on other organisms for survival - in an ecosystem this is critical - if an organism dies out the predators will also die out