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Biology Paper 2 > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

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
What is compost produced used for?
As a natural fertiliser for growing plants.
26
What is produced of waste is broken down in anaerobic conditions?
Methane gas
27
What can be used to produce biogas from waste?
Biogas generators which produce biogas for use as fuel.
28
Why do all materials in the living world need to be recycled?
So they can be used again in future organisms.
29
What does the carbon cycle describe?
How carbon is recycled in nature.
30
What does the carbon cycle rely on?
Decomposers to return carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide through respiration.
31
What does the water cycle describe?
How fresh water circulated between living organisms, rivers and the sea.
32
How can feeding relationships be shown?
In a food chain
33
What do food chains begin with?
A producer (a green plant) which makes molecules.
34
What are produced eaten by?
Secondary consumers which are eaten by tertiary consumers.
35
What is each feeding level called?
A trophic level
36
How can trophic levels be represented?
By numbers, starting at level one.
37
What are predators?
Consumers that eat other animals.
38
What is prey?
Animals that are eaten.
39
What are top consumers?
Apex predators - they are carnivores with no predators.
40
What happens in a stable community with predators and prey?
The numbers of predators and prey rise and fall in cycles. This can be shown in a predator, prey graph.
41
What is global warming?
A gradual increase in the temperature of the Earth.
42
What do people think global warming is caused by?
By changes in various gases, caused by pollution and deforestation, these gases include carbon dioxide and methane.
43
What are the biological consequences of global warming?
- 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
How can we reduce pollution and overexploitation to help maintain biodiversity?
- 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
What is food security?
Making sure all the world’s population is supplied with enough food to be healthy.
46
What factors make it harder to supply people with enough food?
- 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
What sort of methods are scientists and farmers trying to find for food security?
Sustainable
48
What is biodiversity?
The variety of all the different species of organisms on Earth.
49
Why does a high biodiversity help ecosystems?
It helps an ecosystem to be stable because species depend on each other for food and shelter.
50
What does the future of humans rely on?
Maintaining a good level of biodiversity.
51
What are factors that put biodiversity at risk?
Changes in: - availability of water - temperature - atmospheric gases
52
What are changes in - availability of water - temperature - atmospheric gases Due to?
- Changes in the seasons - Geographic activity - human interaction
53
How can pollution reduce biodiversity?
It can kill plants and animals.
54
Where can pollution occur?
- in water, from sewage, toxic chemicals or fertilisers - in air from gases e.g. sulfur dioxide - in land, from landfill and toxic chemicals
55
What happens if you take to many resources out of the environment?
Biodiversity can be put at risk.
56
What can reduce the amount of land available for animals/ plants?
Building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste.
57
Why has deforestation occurred in tropical areas?
To: - Provide land for cattle and rice fields to provide more food. - Grow crops from which biofuels can be produced.
58
What can pyramids of biomass be used to compare?
The amount of biomass in each level of a food chain.
59
What do pyramids of biomass show?
The energy flow through ecosystems more clearly than food chains.
60
How much light do producers transfer via photosynthesis?
1%
61
What are losses of biomass due to?
- 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
What do losses of biomass mean?
There are usually fewer organisms in the higher trophic levels.
63
How can the efficiency of food production be improved by reducing energy transfer from animals to the environment by?
- Limiting the movement of the animals - Controlling the temperature of their surroundings Factory farming uses these ideas.
64
How does factory farming work?
- 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
How is the amount of fish in the ocean regulated?
Control the size of the net used. | Set fishing quotas.
66
What is biotechnology?
Process which allows microorganisms to be grown in large quantities for food.
67
What are the microorganisms produced in biotechnology produced in?
Industrial-sized cats called fermenters in which conditions are carefully controlled.
68
What is mycoprotein?
A fungus called fusarium is used to produce mycroprotein, which is vegetarian suitable, protein rich, high in fibre and low in fat.
69
How is mycoprotein produced?
The fungus is grown on glucose syrup in aerobic conditions and the is harvested and purified.
70
What is an example of a food containing mycoprotein?
Quorn.
71
What sort of crops can be grown to provide more food?
GM crops.

Biology Paper 2 (3 decks)

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