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GCSE AQA 9-1 Biology (for those doing triple) > Ecology pt2 > Flashcards

Ecology pt2 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

the variety of all the different species of organisms on earth, or within an ecosystem.

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2
Q

Why is high biodiversity useful?

A

helps ecosystems to be stable because species depend on each other for food and shelter

it ensures the stability of the ecosystems by reducing the dependence of one species on another for food, shelter and the maintenance of the physical environment

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3
Q

What is the deal with humans and biodiversity?

A

the future of human species relies on us maintaining a good level of biodiversity

Many human activities are responsible for reducing biodiversity, so action is now being taken to try to stop this reduction

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4
Q

What environmental factors affect the distribution of organisms (which puts biodiversity at risk)?

A
  • availability of water
  • temperature
  • composition of atmospheric gases
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5
Q

Why are more resources used and more waste produced?

A

due to :

  • rapid growth in the human population
  • an increase in standard living
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6
Q

How is pollution made and what is its effect on biodiversity?

A

waste chemicals not being properly handled

pollution kills plants and animals which can reduce biodiversity

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7
Q

Where can pollution occur?

A
  • in water, from sewage, fertilizer or toxic chemicals
  • in air, from smoke and acidic gases
  • on land, from landfill and from toxic chemicals
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8
Q

How do Humans put biodiversity at risk?

overexploitation

A
  • by taking too many resources out of the environment
  • Building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste can all reduce the amount of land available for animals and plants.
  • producing garden compost destroys peat bogs, reducing the area of this habitat and biodiversity
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9
Q

What happens when peat bogs decay or are burnt?

A

it releases CO2

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10
Q

Why does large scale deforestation in tropical areas happen?

A
  • provide land for cattle and rice field

- grow crops for biofuel

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11
Q

What is the impact of deforestation?

A
  • less carbon dioxide is being taken in
  • more CO2 is released from trees
  • microorganisms feeding on bits of dead wood release CO2 s a waste product of respiration
  • less biodiversity - forests contain a huge number of different species of plants and animals
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12
Q

What is Global warming?

A

is a gradual increase in the temperature of the Earth

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13
Q

What contributes to global warming?

A
  • increasing levels of CO2 and methane in the atmosphere
  • deforestation
  • other gases caused by pollution
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14
Q

What are the biological consequences of global warming?

A
  • loss of habitat, when low-lying areas are flooded by rising sea levels
    * This is because higher temperatures causes seawater to expand and ice to melt
  • Changes in the distribution of species in areas where temperature or rainfall has changes
  • changes to the migration patterns of animals
  • Biodiversity could be reduced is same species are unable to survive a change in the climate, so become extinct
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15
Q

Scientists, government and concerned citizens have put in place programmes to reduce the negative effects of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity.

What does this include?

A
  • breeding programmes for endangered species
  • protection and regeneration of rare habitats e.g. coral
  • encouraging farmers to keep margins and hedgerows in agricultural areas where farmers grow only one type of crop
  • reduction of deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions by some government
  • recycling resources rather than dumping waste in landfill
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16
Q

How do hedgerows and margins help?

A

Field margins are areas of land around the edges of fields where wildflowers and grasses are left to grow

Hedgerows and field margins provide a habitat for a wider variety of organisms than could survive in a single crop habitat

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17
Q

Describe the different trophic levels

A

Tropic level 1: producers = plants and algae make their own food

Trophic level 2: primary consumers = herbivores eat plants/algae

Tropic level 3: secondary consumers = carnivores eat herbivores

Tropic level 4: tertiary consumers = carnivores that eat other carnivores

Apex predators ( carnivores with no predators)

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18
Q

what is biomass?

A

the mass of all organisms at a certain trophic level

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19
Q

what is the source of all energy in a food chain?

A

the sun

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20
Q

How much energy do producers transfer?

A

1%

21
Q

How much biomass from each tropic level is transferred to the one above it?

A

10%

22
Q

What is the loss of biomass due to?

A
  • not all the ingested material absorbed, some egested as faeces
  • some absorbed material is lost as waste, such as CO2 and water in respiration; water and urea in urine
  • large amounts of glucose used in respuratuin
23
Q

How do you get the biomass of a species in an area?

A

kill all of them, dry them and weigh them to get a dry biomass

this data is found in scientific journals

24
Q

Why is dry biomass more useful than wet biomass?

A

because the moisture content of organisms can vary widely and produce inaccurate results

25
Q

What is food security?

A

having enough food to be healthy to feed a population

26
Q

What are biological factors which re threatening to food security? (6)

A
  • increasing birth rate
  • changing diets in developed countries which means scarce food resources are transported around the world to meet demands
  • new pests and pathogens that affect farming
  • environmental changes (weather) that affect food productivity
  • the cost of agricultural input (e.g price of seeds), can be too expensive for people in some countries to start or maintain food production
  • conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world
27
Q

How can the efficiency of food production be improved?

A

by reducing energy transfer from animals to the environment by :

  • limiting their movement
  • controlling the temperature of their surroundings
28
Q

Why is the reduction of energy transfer from animals to the environment important?

A

because it means more energy is available for growth, so more food can be produced from the same input of resources

29
Q

What are examples of limiting the movement of animals?

A
  • livestock and calves and chickens are factory farmed, which includes raising them in small pens
  • Fish are also factory farmed (raised in small cages), this allows the farmers to feed them high protein food
30
Q

Why are some animals fed high-protein foods?

A

to increase growth

31
Q

What are the regulations in place to stop fish numbers from decreasing and allows them to replenish and grow in numbers?

A
  • control the size of the nets used to reduce the number of unwanted species caught and so only older fish are caught = increase net mesh size so younger fishes can be caught
  • set fishing quotas, so that only a certain number can be caught
  • establish no-fishing zones - prevents ish in certain areas from being fished so that population can be an increase
32
Q

Why are some factory farming methods controversial?

A

because the animals are kept so close together, disease can spread between them easily

some people think that it is inhumane that the food results in some animals having muscle tissue that is too heavy for them

antibiotics in the food chain = resistance

some people think that making animals live in unnatural and uncomfortable conditions is cruel

33
Q

What does biotechnology allow?

A

large quantities of microorganisms to be cultured for food

34
Q

in biotechnology where are microorganisms grown?

A

in fermenters where conditions are carefully controlled

35
Q

How is mycoprotein grown?

A

1) the fungus Fusarium is grown in a fermenter in glucose syrup in aerobic conditions
2) the biomass is harvested and purified

36
Q

How is human insulin genetically engineered?

A

1) a plasmid is removed from a bacterium
2) insulin gene is cut out of a human chromosome using a restriction enzyme
3) The plasmid is cut open using the same restriction enzyme
4) insulin is inserted into the plasmid using ligase enzymes to produce recombinant DNA
5) The recombinant DNA is inserted into a bacterium
6) the modified bacterium is grown in a vat under controlled conditions, resulting in millions of bacteria that produces insulin
7) insulin is harvested and purified to treat people with diabetes

37
Q

What are the pros of GM crops?

A
  • Gm crops could provide more food or food with an improved nutritional value such as golden rice
  • GM crops could be produced to be resistant to pests, improving crop yields
  • can be genetically modified to grow better in drought conditions, improving crop yields
  • improved taste
38
Q

What are the cons of GM crops?

A
  • too much of a certain vitamin in people’s diet
  • there are fears that countries may become dependent on companies who sell GM seeds
  • fears that GM crips will cross-breed with and contaminated with crops = wild crop will eventually become extinct, leading to a disruption to the food chain, so the species that can’t eat the GM crops will also suffer causing a reduction in biodiversity
  • seed for GM plants can be expensive
  • fears about the long-term health
39
Q

Fermenter:

What does the steam inlet do?

A

Hot steam sterilises the inside of the fermenter

An aseptic precaution to prevent contamination by unwanted microorganism

40
Q

Fermenter:

What does the nutrient inlet do?

A

Allows sterile nutrients to enter the fermenter

Microorganisms need nutrients so that they can grow and reproduce

41
Q

Fermenter:

What does the water jacket with cooling water do?

A

Keeps the temperature inside constant

Microorganisms grow best at an optimum temperature

42
Q

Fermenter:

What does the air inlet do?

A

Provides a source of oxygen

Microorganisms need oxygen for aerobic respiration

43
Q

Fermenter:

What does the filter on air inlet do?

A

Stops microorganisms getting inside the fermenter

An aseptic precaution to prevent contamination by unwanted microorganisms

44
Q

Fermenter:

What does the stirring paddles do?

A

Keeps the mixture inside the fermenter agitated (stirred)

Mixes the microorganisms with the nutrients and keeps the temperature even

45
Q

What are three different aspects of factory farming?

A
  • kept in cramped conditions
  • controlled feeding
  • treated with prophylactic antibiotics
46
Q

What are the pros of factory farming?

A
  • cramped conditions: less energy is lost through movement
  • controlled feeding: food in high calories and protein so animals will grow fast
  • antibiotic treatment stops infections in animals
47
Q

What is Eutrophication?

A
  • when it rains, fertilizers are washed into rivers and lake, leading to an increase in nutrient concentration
  • food for algae = grows and reproduce quickly, forming loads of algae on the top of the lack which absorbs sunlight and blocks it so the sunlight can’t reach the bottom
  • plants that need light to photosynthesize die
  • plants decayed by bacteria, the bacteria use up all the oxygen in the water and other animals die because they cannot respire.
48
Q

What are the advantages of alternatives to meat?

A
  • frees up farming space for crops
  • less methane from cows means less contribution to global warming
  • less global warming means less effect for humans e.g. droughts, floods

GCSE AQA 9-1 Biology (for those doing triple) (22 decks)

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