Ecology Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
An area where organisms interact with there physical environment
What are producers?
Organisms which make there own food
What are consumers?
Organisms which eat other living things
What are decomposers?
Organisms which secrete digestive enzymes to decay dead organic matter to obtain food.
What is a physical environment?
All living factors which affect growth and survival of living things. These include temperature, carbon dioxide and minerals
What is a habitiat?
A place where specific organisms live
What is population?
Total number of individuals of one species in a particular habitat at one time
How would you calculate the population of a species in a habitat?
Calculate the area of the habitat
Measure the number of individuals in one quadrat and repeat many times
Calculate average number of individuals in each quadrat
Calculate how many quadrats fit into the total area
Multiply no. of individuals in quadrat and total quadrats in the area by each other to get answer
How is random sampling more accurate than choosing an area yourself?
Avoids areas which may look interesting, because this would make the results biased
How do you random sample?
Lay 2 tape measures at right angles to make 10m by 10m set of axis. Generate pairs of random numbers and these are the coordinates. Use these to place quadrat
What is a transect?
A line across a habitat which is placed to pass through a range of abiotic factors e.g. different light intensity
What is a community?
A collection of populations and all species present in an ecosystem at a particular time
What are trophic levels?
Stages in a food chain or web
What is energy of food measured in?
Kilojoules
How could energy be lost when plants absorb light energy?
Some light will miss the plant
Some light will be reflected off the cuticle
Some light has the wrong wave length to be absorbed by the chlorophyll
