Ecology Chp4,5,6

Question 1

What is ecology

Answer 1

the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment

Question 2

What is the biosphere

Answer 2

the part of the planet containing living organisms

Question 3

What is an ecosystem

Answer 3

a group of clearly distinguished organisms that interact with their environment as a unit

Question 4

What is a habitat

Answer 4

the place where a plant or animal live

Question 5

What is the population

Answer 5

all the members of the same species living in an area

Question 6

What is a community

Answer 6

all the different populations in an area

Question 7

What is an abiotic factor

Answer 7

non-living factors, e.g. temp, light intensity, PH

Question 8

What is a biotic factor

Answer 8

living factors, e.g. food, competition, predation

Question 9

What are climatic factors

Answer 9

weather over long periods of time

Question 10

What are edaphic factors

Answer 10

soil factors

Question 11

What is a producer

Answer 11

organisms that carry out photosynthesis/ make own food

Question 12

What is a consumer

Answer 12

organisms that take food from another organism

Question 13

Flora

Answer 13

all the plants in an ecosystem

Question 14

Fuana

Answer 14

all the animals in an ecosystem

Question 15

What are decomposers

Answer 15

organisms that feed on dead organic matter

Question 16

What are detritus feeders

Answer 16

organisms that feed on small pieces of dead organic matter

Question 17

What is a food chain

Answer 17

a sequence of organisms in which each one is eaten by the next member in the chain

Question 18

What is a trophic level

Answer 18

a feeding stage in a food chain

Question 19

What is a food web

Answer 19

two or more interlinked food chains

Question 20

Example of grassland food chain

Answer 20

Buttercup, caterpillar, blackbird, fox

Question 21

What is a pyramid of numbers

Answer 21

represents the number of organisms at each trophic level

Question 22

Limitation of a pyramid of numbers

Answer 22

doesn’t account for the size of the organism

Question 22

E.g. of normal pyramid of numbers

Answer 22

hawk, thrush, caterpillar, buttercup

Question 23

E.g. of inverted pyramid of numbers

Answer 23

mites, greenfly, rose bush

Question 24

E.g. of partially inverted pyramid of numbers

Answer 24

blackbird, spiders, mites, greenfly, oak tree

Question 25

What is a niche

Answer 25

the functional role an organism plays in the community

Question 26

What is pollution

Answer 26

any harmful addition to the environment

Question 27

What are pollutants

Answer 27

harmful additions to the environment

Question 28

What is conservation

Answer 28

the wise management of the existing natural resources in an ecosystem in order to maintain a wide range of habitats and organisms

Question 29

What is competition

Answer 29

when organisms actively struggle for a resource that is in short supply

Question 30

What is contest competition

Answer 30

when there is an active physical contest between two individual organisms

Question 31

What is scramble competition

Answer 31

when all of the competing organisms get some of the resource

Question 32

What is predation

Answer 32

the catching, killing and eating of another organism

Question 33

What is a predator

Answer 33

an organism that catches, kills and eats another organism

Question 34

What is prey

Answer 34

the organism eaten by the predator

Question 35

What is parasitism

Answer 35

when 2 organisms live in close proximity with one obtaining food from the other usually causing harm

Question 36

What is symbiosis

Answer 36

when 2 organisms live in close proximity and at least one benefits

Question 37

What are factors affecting human population

Answer 37

war, famine, disease