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Biology > Ecology - B7a > Flashcards

Ecology - B7a Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a habitat?

A

The place where an organism lives.

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2
Q

What is a population?

A

All the organisms of one species living in a habitat.

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3
Q

What is a community?

A

The populations of different species living in a habitat.

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4
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A

Non-living factors of the environment e.g. temperature.

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5
Q

What are biotic factors?

A

Living factors of the environment e.g. food.

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6
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community with the living organisms (biotic) and the non-living organisms (abiotic) parts of their environment.

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7
Q

What is interdependence?

A

Each species depending on each other species for things such as food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal. If one species is removed it can affect the whole community.

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8
Q

What do organisms require to survive and reproduce?

A

A supply of materials from their surroundings and from the other living organisms there.

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9
Q

What do plants in a community or habitat often compete with each other for?

A

Light and space, and for water and mineral ions from the soil.

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10
Q

What do animals often compete with each other for?

A

Food, mates and territory.

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11
Q

What is a stable community?

A

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

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12
Q

What are the abiotic factors that can affect a community?

A
  • light intensity
  • temperature
  • moisture levels
  • soil pH and mineral content
  • wind intensity and direction
  • carbon dioxide levels for plants
  • oxygen levels for aquatic animals
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13
Q

How can a decrease in light intensity, temperature or level of CO2 affect a community?

A
  • decreases rate of photosynthesis
  • affect plant growth
  • decrease in population size
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14
Q

How can a decrease in the mineral content of soil affect a community?

A
  • nutrient deficiencies
  • affect plant growth
  • decrease in population size.
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15
Q

What are biotic factors that can affect a community?

A
  • availability of food
  • new predators arriving
  • new pathogens
  • one species out-competing another so the numbers are no longer sufficient to breed.
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16
Q

How can a new predator affect a community?

A
  • decrease in prey population.
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17
Q

What are adaptations?

A

Features that enable them to survive in the conditions in which they normally live.

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18
Q

What are the 3 types of adapatation?

A

Structural, behavioural and functional.

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19
Q

What are structural adaptations?

A

Feature’s of an organism’s body structure - such as shape and colour. E.g. Arctic animals like the arctic fox have white fur so they’re camouflaged against the snow. This helps them avoid predators and sneak up on prey.

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20
Q

What are behavioural adaptations?

A

Ways that an organism behaves. E.g. Many species migrate to warmer climates during the winter to avoid the problems of living conditions.

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21
Q

What are functional adaptations?

A

Things that can go on inside an organism’s body that can be related to processes like reproduction and metabolism. E.g. Desert animals conserve water by producing very little sweat and small amounts of concentrated urine.

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22
Q

What is an extremophile?

A

Organisms that live in environments that are very extreme, such as at high temperature, pressure, or salt concentration.

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23
Q

What is an example of an extremophile?

A

Bacteria living in deep sea vents.

24
Q

What are the producers of biomass for life on Earth?

A

Photosynthetic organisms.

25
Q

How do you represent feeding relationships within a community?

A

Food chains.

26
Q

What do all food chains begin with?

A

A producer that synthesises molecules.

27
Q

What are producers usually?

A

A green plant or alga which makes glucose by photosynthesis.

28
Q

What happens in a food chain?Consumers that kill and eat other animals are predators, and those
eaten are prey.

A

Producers are eaten by primary consumers, which in turn may be eaten by secondary consumers and then tertiary consumers.

29
Q

What are predators and prey?

A

Consumers that kill and eat other animals are predators, and those eaten are prey.

30
Q

What happens to predators and prey in a stable community?

A

The numbers of predators and
prey rise and fall in cycles.

31
Q

What do ecologists use quadrats and transects for?

A

To determine the distribution and abundance of species in
an ecosystem.

32
Q

How are quadrats used?

A

Measure how common an organism is in two or more sample areas using a square frame enclosing?

33
Q

How are transects used?

A

Study how distributions change across an area.

34
Q

What all materials in the living world are recycled to provide?

A

The building blocks for future organisms.

35
Q

What are the two cycles?

A

The carbon cycle and the water cycle.

36
Q

What does the water cycle provide?

A

The water cycle provides fresh water for plants and animals on land before draining into the seas.

37
Q

Describe the water cycle.

A

Energy from the sun causes the water to evaporate from the land and sea, turning it into water vapour. The warm water vapour is carried upwards (as warm hair rises). When it gets higher up it cools and condenses to form clouds. Water falls from the clouds as precipitation onto land, where it provides fresh water for plants and animals. It then drains into the sea before the whole process starts again.

38
Q

What does the carbon cycle do?

A

The carbon cycle returns carbon from organisms to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide to be used by plants in photosynthesis.

39
Q

How is carbon taken out of the air?

A

It is removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis in green plants and algae. This carbon is used to make glucose, which can be turned into carbohydrates, fats and proteins that make up the bodies of the plants and algae.

40
Q

How does carbon move through food chains?

A

Some of the carbon becomes parts of the fats and proteins in animals when the plants and algae are eaten. The carbon then moves through the food chain. When plants and algae die, other animals (detritus feeders) and microorganisms feed on their remains. Animals produce waste that are also broken down by microorganisms and detritus feeders.

41
Q

How is carbon returned to the air?

A

Carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2 when the plants, algae, animals and microorganisms respire. Also CO2 is released back into the air when some useful plant and animal products are burnt.

42
Q

What is the role of microorganisms in cycling
materials through an ecosystem by returning carbon to the atmosphere?

A

Microorganisms respire as they break down organic matter, converting carbon in the dead organisms into carbon dioxide (CO2), which is then released into the atmosphere.

43
Q

What is the role of microorganisms in cycling
materials through an ecosystem by returning mineral ions to the soil?

A

As microorganisms decompose organic matter, they also break down complex organic compounds into simpler substances, releasing mineral ions such as nitrates, phosphates, and potassium into the soil.

44
Q

What factors affect decay?

A

Temperature, water, oxygen availability and number of decay organisms.

45
Q

How does temperature affect decay?

A

Warmer temperatures make things decompose quicker because they increase the rate that the enzymes involved in decomposition work at. If it’s too hot, decomposition slows down or stops because the enzymes are destroyed and the organisms die. Really cold temperatures slow the rate of decomposition.

46
Q

How does oxygen availability affect the rate of decay?

A

When oxygen is readily available, aerobic microorganisms thrive and efficiently break down organic matter. Aerobic decomposition is faster because these microorganisms can generate more energy from organic compounds using oxygen. In environments where oxygen is limited or absent, anaerobic microorganisms take over the decomposition process. Anaerobic decomposition is slower and less efficient because these microorganisms generate less energy from organic compounds.

47
Q

How does water affect the rate of decay?

A

Decay takes place faster in moist environments because the organisms involved in decay need water to carry out biological processes.

48
Q

What is compost?

A

Decomposed organic matter used as a natural fertiliser for growing crops and garden plants. It provides optimum conditions for rapid
decay of waste biological material for farmers and gardeners.

49
Q

What does anaerobic decay produce?

A

Methane gas.

50
Q

How else can methane gas be produced as a fuel?

A

Bio-gas generators.

51
Q

What environmental changes can affect the distribution of a species in an ecosystem?

A

Availability of water, temperature, composition of atmospheric gases.

52
Q

How may the changes be caused?

A

The changes may be seasonal, geographic or caused by human
interaction.

53
Q

How does water availability affect the distribution of species in an
ecosystem?

A

Distribution of some animal and plant species in the tropics changes between the wet and the dry seasons .

54
Q

How does the composition of atmospheric gases affect the distribution of species in an
ecosystem?

A
  • where there is more air pollution, distribution of some species change. For example, some species of lichen can’t grow in areas where sulfur dioxide is given out.
55
Q

How does temperature affect the distribution of species in an
ecosystem?

A
  • what species of plants are found at different elevations
  • distribution of bird species in Germany is changing because of a rise in average temperature.

Biology (4 decks)

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