Ecology and the Enviroment

Question 1

What is habitat?

Answer 1

The place where an organism lives

Question 2

What is population?

Answer 2

All the organisms of one species in a habitat

Question 3

What is community?

Answer 3

All the different species in a habitat

Question 4

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 4

All the organisms living in a particular area and all the non-living conditions

Question 5

How can you estimate population sizes in different areas?

Answer 5

By using a quadrat

Question 6

What is a quadrat?

Answer 6

A square frame

Question 7

When using a quadrat, how can you make your results more accurate?

Answer 7

by using a bigger quadrat

Question 8

What do food chains show?

Answer 8

Whats eaten by what in an ecosystem

Question 9

What are the different stages in food chains called?

Answer 9

trophic levels

Question 10

What do food chains always start with?

Answer 10

A producer, which makes it’s own food using energy from the sun

Question 11

What are producers eaten by?

Answer 11

Primary consumers

Question 12

What are primary consumers eaten by?

Answer 12

secondary consumers

Question 13

What are secondary consumers eaten by?

Answer 13

tertiary consumers

Question 14

What happens when all organisms die?

Answer 14

They get eaten by decomposers

Question 15

What do decomposers do?

Answer 15

decompose dead material and waste

Question 16

In pyramids of numbers, what does each bar show?

Answer 16

The number of organisms at that stage of the food chain

Question 17

What does each bar on a pyramid of biomass show?

Answer 17

the mass of living material at that stage of the food chain

Question 18

What is the source of energy for nearly all life on earth?

Answer 18

THE SUN

Question 19

What is lost at each stage of the food chain?

Answer 19

material and energy

Question 20

What percentage of energy is lost between each trophic level?

Answer 20

around 90%

Question 21

How can you show how food chains are linked?

Answer 21

By drawing a food web

Question 22

What does the carbon cycle show?

Answer 22

how carbon is recycled

Question 23

What is the whole carbon cycle powered by?

Answer 23

photosynthesis

Question 24

Animals and plants release CO2 back into the air by…

Answer 24

respiration

Question 25

When plants and animals decompose, their broken down by..?

Answer 25

bacteria and fungi

Question 26

Decomposition releases

Answer 26

CO2

Question 27

When plant and animal products are burned, they release

Answer 27

CO2

Question 28

Burning fossil fuels release...

Answer 28

greenhouse gases

Question 29

What forms when sulfur dioxide mixes with rain clouds?

Answer 29

sulfuric acid

Question 30

What are the main causes of acid rain?

Answer 30

Internal combustion engines in cars | Power stations

Question 31

What affects can acid rain have on lakes?

Answer 31

Make it become more acidic Severe affect on ecosystem Many organisms are sensitive to changes in pH They die

Question 32

How can acid rain kill trees?

Answer 32

The acid damages leaves and releases toxic substances from the soil, making it hard for the trees to take up nutrients

Question 33

Name four greenhouse gases

Answer 33

Carbon Dioxide Methane Nitrous Oxide CFC's

Question 34

How do humans release carbon dioxide?

Answer 34

Car exhausts Industrial processes Burning fossil fuels

Question 35

What human activity affects the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Answer 35

deforestation

Question 36

Where is methane produced naturally?

Answer 36

Rotting plants in marshland | Cows

Question 37

What are the 'man made' sources of methane?

Answer 37

Rice growing | Cattle rearing

Question 38

Where is Nitrous oxide released naturally?

Answer 38

By bacteria in soils and the ocean

Question 39

What are CFC's?

Answer 39

man-made chemicals that were once used in aerosol sprays and fridges

Question 40

What do fertilisers cause when they leach into water?

Answer 40

Eutrophication

Question 41

How exactly does eutrophication occur?

Answer 41

Nitrates and phosphates are put onto fields as mineral fertilisers if too much fertiliser is applied and it rains afterwards, nitrates are easily leached into rivers and lakes

Question 42

What damage can eutrophication do?

Answer 42

The extra nutrients can cause algae to grow fast and block out the light So plants can't photosynthesise due to lack of light and start to die With more food available, microorganisms that feed on dead plants increase and deplete all the oxygen in the water Organisms that need oxygen die

Question 43

What four effects does deforestation have?

Answer 43

Leaching Disturbing the water cycle Soil erosion Disturbing the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen

Question 44

What is Leaching?

Answer 44

When trees are removed, nutrients don't get leached away, but don't get replaced, leaving infertile soil

Question 45

How does deforestation disturb the water cycle?

Answer 45

Increase surface runoff | The local climate can become drier as less transpiration happens

Question 46

What is meant by soil erosion?

Answer 46

Trees bind soil together | When trees are removed, soil can be washed away by the rain, leaving infertile soil

Question 47

How can deforestation disturb the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen?

Answer 47

When trees are cut down and burnt, the stored carbon is released Less photosynthesis takes place, so less oxygen is released, causing the oxygen levels in the atmosphere to drop