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Biology Paper 2 > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

All the organisms living in a habitat and the non living parts of the habitat.

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2
Q

What are the individual levels of organisation in an ecosystem?

A
  • Individual organisms
  • Populations
  • Communities
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3
Q

What can trying to get enough resources result in?

A

Competition

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4
Q

What do plants often compete for?

A

For light, water, space and mineral ions from the soil

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5
Q

What do animals in a community compete for?

A

Food, mates and territory

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6
Q

What do species rely on each other for?

A

Food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal

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7
Q

What is organisms relying on other organisms called?

A

Interdependence

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8
Q

How can interdependence affect a whole community?

A

If a species is removed from a habitat.

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9
Q

What is a stable community?

A

When all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that population sizes stay fairly constant.

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10
Q

What are some examples of stable communities?

A

Oak woodlands and tropical rainforests

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11
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A

Non living factors that can affect communities.

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12
Q

What are biotic factors?

A

Living factors that can affect a community.

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13
Q

Examples of abiotic factors?

A
  • Light intensity 💡
  • Temperature 🤒
  • Moisture levels 🌧
  • Soil PH and mineral content 🌽
  • Wind intensity and direction 🌬
  • CO2 levels for plants 🌱
  • Oxygen levels for aquatic animals 🐠
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14
Q

Examples of biotic factors:

A
  • Availability of food 🥩
  • New predators arriving 🐯
  • New pathogens/ diseases 🦠
  • One species outcompeting another 🏅
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15
Q

Why do species have adaptations?

A

To help them survive in the conditions they live in

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16
Q

What 3 categories can adaptations come under?

A

Structural, behavioural or functional.

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17
Q

What are extremophiles?

A

Organisms that live in very extreme environment e.g. high temperature, pressure or salt concentration

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18
Q

Give an example of an extremophile

A

Bacteria living in deep sea vents

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19
Q

What is a population?

A

A group of organisms of one species living in a habitat.

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20
Q

How do scientists often estimate the size of a population?

A

Using sampling using a square frame called a quadrat.

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21
Q

What happens when animals die or produce waste products?

A

The dead material is broken down by decomposers which are certain types of bacteria/ fungi.

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22
Q

What do decomposers require fo break down waste?

A

Oxygen, moisture, a suitable temperature and a suitable PH

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23
Q

How do decomposers break down waste?

A

They secrete enzymes which partly digest the waste. The decomposers then take up the small, soluble food molecules.

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24
Q

What do gardeners try to do in a compost heap?

A

The gardeners try to provide optimum conditions for decay.

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25
Q

What is compost produced used for?

A

As a natural fertiliser for growing plants.

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26
Q

What is produced of waste is broken down in anaerobic conditions?

A

Methane gas

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27
Q

What can be used to produce biogas from waste?

A

Biogas generators which produce biogas for use as fuel.

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28
Q

Why do all materials in the living world need to be recycled?

A

So they can be used again in future organisms.

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29
Q

What does the carbon cycle describe?

A

How carbon is recycled in nature.

30
Q

What does the carbon cycle rely on?

A

Decomposers to return carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide through respiration.

31
Q

What does the water cycle describe?

A

How fresh water circulated between living organisms, rivers and the sea.

32
Q

How can feeding relationships be shown?

A

In a food chain

33
Q

What do food chains begin with?

A

A producer (a green plant) which makes molecules.

34
Q

What are produced eaten by?

A

Secondary consumers which are eaten by tertiary consumers.

35
Q

What is each feeding level called?

A

A trophic level

36
Q

How can trophic levels be represented?

A

By numbers, starting at level one.

37
Q

What are predators?

A

Consumers that eat other animals.

38
Q

What is prey?

A

Animals that are eaten.

39
Q

What are top consumers?

A

Apex predators - they are carnivores with no predators.

40
Q

What happens in a stable community with predators and prey?

A

The numbers of predators and prey rise and fall in cycles. This can be shown in a predator, prey graph.

41
Q

What is global warming?

A

A gradual increase in the temperature of the Earth.

42
Q

What do people think global warming is caused by?

A

By changes in various gases, caused by pollution and deforestation, these gases include carbon dioxide and methane.

43
Q

What are the biological consequences of global warming?

A
  • Loss of habitat (low lying areas are flooded by rising seas).
  • Changes in the distribution of species in areas where temperature or rainfall has changed
  • Changes in migration patterns.
44
Q

How can we reduce pollution and overexploitation to help maintain biodiversity?

A
  • Encouraging farmers to keep margins and hedgerows in fields.
  • Reducing deforestation and CO2 emissions
  • recycling resources
  • Setting up breeding programs for endangered species
  • Protecting rare habitats.
45
Q

What is food security?

A

Making sure all the world’s population is supplied with enough food to be healthy.

46
Q

What factors make it harder to supply people with enough food?

A
  • Increasing birth rate
  • Changing diets
  • New pests and pathogens
  • Changes in weather, can affect farming
  • Cost of agricultural supplies
  • Conflicts in some parts of the world
47
Q

What sort of methods are scientists and farmers trying to find for food security?

A

Sustainable

48
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of all the different species of organisms on Earth.

49
Q

Why does a high biodiversity help ecosystems?

A

It helps an ecosystem to be stable because species depend on each other for food and shelter.

50
Q

What does the future of humans rely on?

A

Maintaining a good level of biodiversity.

51
Q

What are factors that put biodiversity at risk?

A

Changes in:

  • availability of water
  • temperature
  • atmospheric gases
52
Q

What are changes in

  • availability of water
  • temperature
  • atmospheric gases

Due to?

A
  • Changes in the seasons
  • Geographic activity
  • human interaction
53
Q

How can pollution reduce biodiversity?

A

It can kill plants and animals.

54
Q

Where can pollution occur?

A
  • in water, from sewage, toxic chemicals or fertilisers
  • in air from gases e.g. sulfur dioxide
  • in land, from landfill and toxic chemicals
55
Q

What happens if you take to many resources out of the environment?

A

Biodiversity can be put at risk.

56
Q

What can reduce the amount of land available for animals/ plants?

A

Building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste.

57
Q

Why has deforestation occurred in tropical areas?

A

To:

  • Provide land for cattle and rice fields to provide more food.
  • Grow crops from which biofuels can be produced.
58
Q

What can pyramids of biomass be used to compare?

A

The amount of biomass in each level of a food chain.

59
Q

What do pyramids of biomass show?

A

The energy flow through ecosystems more clearly than food chains.

60
Q

How much light do producers transfer via photosynthesis?

A

1%

61
Q

What are losses of biomass due to?

A
  • Some of the food taken in being passed out of the body as faeces.
  • Large amounts of glucose are used in respiration.
  • Some material being lost in excretion.
62
Q

What do losses of biomass mean?

A

There are usually fewer organisms in the higher trophic levels.

63
Q

How can the efficiency of food production be improved by reducing energy transfer from animals to the environment by?

A
  • Limiting the movement of the animals
  • Controlling the temperature of their surroundings

Factory farming uses these ideas.

64
Q

How does factory farming work?

A
  • Raising battery chickens in cages to prevent movement and feeding them high-protein foods.
  • Fish grown in cages and feeding them high-protein foods.
65
Q

How is the amount of fish in the ocean regulated?

A

Control the size of the net used.

Set fishing quotas.

66
Q

What is biotechnology?

A

Process which allows microorganisms to be grown in large quantities for food.

67
Q

What are the microorganisms produced in biotechnology produced in?

A

Industrial-sized cats called fermenters in which conditions are carefully controlled.

68
Q

What is mycoprotein?

A

A fungus called fusarium is used to produce mycroprotein, which is vegetarian suitable, protein rich, high in fibre and low in fat.

69
Q

How is mycoprotein produced?

A

The fungus is grown on glucose syrup in aerobic conditions and the is harvested and purified.

70
Q

What is an example of a food containing mycoprotein?

A

Quorn.

71
Q

What sort of crops can be grown to provide more food?

A

GM crops.

Biology Paper 2 (3 decks)

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