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Biology > Ecosystems * > Flashcards

Ecosystems * Flashcards

1
Q

What is the population?

A

all of the organisms of the same or closely related species in an area

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2
Q

What is a community?

A

two or more populations of organisms in an area

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3
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

the interaction between a community of living organisms and their environment

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4
Q

What is a producer/autotroph?

A

an organism that makes its own food (usually a green plant)

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5
Q

What is a consumer/heterotroph?

A

an organism that eats ready-made food particles (ie a producer or another consumer)
primary/secondary consumer

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6
Q

What is a predator?

A

an organism that eats another consumer

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7
Q

What are prey?

A

an organism that is hunted and eaten by a predator

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8
Q

What are the three features of a pyramid of numbers?
What shape is it?

A
  • the trophic level, starting from 1 at the bottom
  • the population size inside each section of the pyramid, with the most at the bottom
  • the species label, either inside each section or labelling each section

a triangle

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9
Q

What are the three features of a pyramid of biomass?
What shape is it?

A
  • the trophic level, starting from 1 at the bottom
  • the amount of biomass inside each section of the pyramid, with the most at the bottom
  • the species label, either inside each section or labelling each section

a triangle

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10
Q

What are the three features of a pyramid of energy?
What shape is it?

A
  • the tropic level, starting from 1 at the bottom
  • the amount of energy inside each block
  • the species label, either inside each section or labelling each section

different sized blocks stacked on top of each other

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11
Q

How do you calculate energy efficiency?

A

efficiency = energy available after/ energy available before x 100

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12
Q

How much energy is wasted at the producer level?

A
  • some energy is used for metabolic reactions
  • some doesn’t hit the chloroplasts
  • only 1-5% is used to build new biomass
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13
Q

How much energy is wasted at the primary consumer level?

A
  • some parts of a plant are inedible
  • most passes through as cellulose
  • some is used for metabolic reactions
  • some used to maintain body temperature
  • some used for muscle contractions
  • some is excreted as waste
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14
Q

How much energy is wasted at the secondary consumer level?

A
  • parts of prey can’t be eaten e.g. antlers
    -some used for metabolic reactions
  • some used to maintain body temperature
  • some used for muscle contractions
  • some excreted as waste
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15
Q

What is a biotic factor?

A

living organisms in an ecosystem

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16
Q

What is an abiotic factor?

A

non-living physical and chemical elements in an ecosystem (the environment)

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17
Q

What is an indicator species?

A

an organism whose presence, absence or relative wellbeing in an environment shows the health of its ecosystem

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18
Q

What is air pollution?
What is an impact of air pollution?

A

burning fossil fuels emitts sulfur dioxide which gets soaked into clouds and falls as ‘acid rain’
this washes away many indicator species which shows the level of air pollution

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19
Q

What is evaporation?

A

solar energy from the sun heats the water and it rises as water vapour

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20
Q

What is condensation?

A

water vapour has risen and it cools to form clouds

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21
Q

What is precipitation?

A

when any form of water falls from a cloud

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22
Q

What is transpiration?

A

the movement of water through a plant and it exits as water vapour

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23
Q

What is infiltration?

A

when water has fallen as precipitation and is absorbed into the ground

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24
Q

What is surface runoff?

A

if a large volume of water falls on the ground, some water can run along the surface of the ground instead of being absorbed

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25
Q

What is respiration?

A

the process in living organisms that releases energy from glucose
6O2 + C6H12O6 –> 6CO2 + 6H2O

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26
Q

What is potable water?

A

drinkable water

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27
Q

What is desalination?

A

removing salt and other minerals from water to make it suitable for animal consumption or irrigation

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28
Q

What is reverse osmosis?

A

the movement of water from an area of low water concentration to an area of high water concentration

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29
Q

How is desalination carried out using reverse osmosis?

A
  • salt water is forced at a high pressure into a vessel with a partially permeable membrane
  • the pressure causes the water molecules to move in the opposite direction to osmosis
  • water molecules pass across the membrane leaving the salt behind, so pure water is available for drinking
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30
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

when carbon is passed from the atmosphere as CO2, to living things, passed from one organism to the next, and returned to the atmosphere as CO2 again

31
Q

How is carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere?

A

green plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis
the carbon becomes part of complex molecules inside the plant, like proteins and carbohydrates

32
Q

How is carbon passed from one organism to the next?

A
  • when an animal eats a plant, carbon from the plant becomes part of the fats and proteins in the animal
  • decomposers feed on waste material from the animals and the remains of dead animals and plants, and the carbon becomes a part of these organisms
33
Q

How is carbon dioxide returned to the atmosphere?

A
  • organisms return CO2 to the atmosphere by respiration
  • CO2 released by combustion - the burning of fossil duels releases large quantities into the atmosphere
34
Q

What are the three key processes in the carbon cycle?

What does the carbon start as and end as in each process?

A

photosynthesis - CO2 –> glucose

respiration - glucose –> CO2

combustion (burning) - fuel –> CO2

35
Q

What is nitrogen used for?

A

essential in the formation of amino acids which form proteins

36
Q

How much nitrogen is in the air?

A

78%

37
Q

Why can’t nitrogen be used directly by plants?

What do they use instead?

A

nitrogen is very unreactive

nitrogen can be converted to nitrates in the soil, which can be used by plants

38
Q

What is the first stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

nitrogen gas from the air is converted into ammonium ions by nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil or root nodules
lightning reacts oxygen with nitrogen to form nitrate

39
Q

What is the second stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

ammonium ions are converted to nitrates by nitrifying bacteria in the soil

40
Q

What is the third stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

plants absorb nitrates from the soil and use them to build proteins

41
Q

What is the fourth stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

decomposers break down the bodies or waste of dead organisms meaning nitrogen is returned to the soil as ammonium ions

42
Q

What is the fifth stage of the nitrogen cycle?

A

denitrifying bacteria in the soil break down nitrates and return nitrogen gas back to the air

43
Q

What is nitrogen fixing bacteria?

A

converts nitrogen gas to ammonia which turns into ammonium ions
found in the soil or root nodules of legumes

44
Q

What is nitrifying bacteria?

A

converts ammonia into nitrites then nitrates
found in the soil

45
Q

What is denitrifying bacteria?

A

converts nitrates back into nitrogen gas
found in the soil

46
Q

What are the two methods farmers use to increase the nitrate content of the soil?

A
  • crop rotation
  • using fertilisers
47
Q

How does crop rotation improve soil fertility?

A

farmers grow legumes such as peas or beans, which can form nitrate as they have nitrogen fixing bacteria in their roots
one year the farmer will grow one of these crops and then in the following years will plant new crops in the nitrate rich soil, and rotate the different crops around the field

48
Q

How does using fertilisers improve soil fertility?

A

natural fertilisers like manure or compost are used to provide a source of nitrate to increase the crop yield
artificial fertilisers like ammonium nitrate can also be applied to the fields

49
Q

Give the five stages of eutrophication

A

1 excessive nitrates are leached into the river
2 plants flourish/alga bloom, which depletes oxygen in the water
3 algae prevents sunlight from reaching other plants which die and the oxygen is depleted further
4 dead plants are broken down by bacteria which uses up even more oxygen through respiration
5 oxygen levels become anoxic meaning no life is possible and all other organisms die

50
Q

Which indicator species show a level of clean, some, moderate, high and very high water pollution?

A

clean - stonefly nymph, mayfly larva
some - freshwater shrimp, caddis fly larva
moderate - bloodworm, water louse
high- sludge-worm, red-tailed maggot
very high - no living insects

51
Q

Which species indicate air pollution?

A

species of lichens and blackspot fungus are sensitive to air pollution, so they will not grow if there are high levels of sulfur dioxide (acid rain)

52
Q

What is decomposition?

A

the breaking down of dead matter

53
Q

What are decomposers?

A

bacteria and fungi that help the process of decomposition

54
Q

What is the rate of decay?

How can it be estimated (what can you measure)?

A

the speed at which dead matter is broken down by decomposers

can be estimated by measuring changes in pH, change in mass or change in temperature

55
Q

How does temperature effect the rate of decay?

A

at colder temps, decomposers will be less active so the rate of decomposition is low
as the temp increases decomposers become more active and the rate of decay increases
at extremely high temps the decomposers will be killed and decomposition will stop

when decomposers break compost down the heap becomes warmer due to the respiration of the decomposers generating heat

56
Q

How does the volume of water effect the rate of decay?

A

with little or no water there is less decomposition because the decomposers cannot survive
as the volume of water increases the rate of decomposition also increases
many decomposers secrete enzymes to absorb or dissolve molecules and without water these reactions cannot occur

57
Q

How does the level of oxygen effect the rate of decay?

A

with little or no oxygen there is less decomposition because the decomposers cannot survive - they need oxygen to respire
as the volume of oxygen increases the rate of decomposition also increases

58
Q

How do you calculate the rate of change?

A

rate of change = change in value/ change in time

59
Q

What are 3 pros and cons of fish farming?

A

pros :
- fish are a good source of protein
- less impact on open waters so no marine habitats are effected
- only the required fish are killed - other methods can kill lots of other organisms

cons:
- the fish are kept in very small tanks
- fish dont have the choice to live in artificial conditions
- giving the fish growth hormones isnt natural so its not an organic source of food for us

60
Q

What is the impact of fish farming on biodiversity?

A

fish farming doesnt affect ,arine ecosystems and food chains
however fish are inbred which reduces their biodiversity and results in genetic spcies

61
Q

What are 2 pros and 1 con of non-indigenous species?

A

pros:
- species can be introduced to eat a harmful naturally occurring species - biological control
-no pesticides or chemicals are used

cons:
- if left alone the populations of non-indigenous species can interfere with the ecosystem, damaging habitats or causing other naturally occurring species to die out

62
Q

What is interdependance?

A

all organisms depend on each other
protecting one organism means protecting many

63
Q

What is ecosystem stability?

A

by preserving ecosystems they’re remaining as they should be

64
Q

What are potential recources?

A

what undiscovered cures could be destroyed if we dont look after ecosystems

65
Q

What are rights/responsibilities?

A

all organisms have a right to life and we have a responsibility to leave earth as we found it

66
Q

What are the five issues affecting food security?

A

-rising human population
- increasing animal and fish farming
- the impact of new pests and pathogens
- environmental change caused by human activity
- sustainability issues

67
Q

What are biofuels?

A

growing crops to provide an alternative fuel source which is renewable
e.g. bioethanol made from fermenting sugar in corn

68
Q

What is food security?

A

when everyone has access to safe and healthy food

69
Q

What is mutualism?

A

a symbiotic relationship where all species involved benefit

70
Q

What is parasitism?

A

a symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits by feeding off a host organism causing harm

71
Q

What is parasitism?

A

a symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits by feeding off a host organism causing harm

72
Q

Give an example of mutualism

A

oxpecker birds and zebras - the oxpecker bird eats ticks and flies on the zebra, which reduces the risk of disease

73
Q

Give an example of parasitism
What adaptations does the parasite have?

A

a tapeworm inside the intestines

  • hooks and suckers to attach to intestine wall
  • flattened body so increased surface area for absorption of digested food

Biology (18 decks)

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