Ecosystems Flashcards
Ecosystem
All the biotic and abiotic features of an area and how they are interrelated.
Interrelationship
How multiple things are connected to each other.
Interdependence
How two or more things depend on each other.
Give some examples of abiotic features of an ecosystem.
Soil
Climate
Rivers
Sun
Minerals
Biome
An ecosystem on a global scale.
What does the nutrient cycle show?
How nutrients move through an ecosystem.
Nutrients
A substance that provides nourishment essential for organisms to live and grow.
Leeching
When water washes nutrients out of the soil.
What factor determines which type of ecosystem forms?
Climate (the long term pattern of weather, based on an average over 30 yrs, such as the av. rainfall or temp we expect each month).
Tundra ecosystems
-High latitudes
-Countries like Canada and Alaska
-Cold winters
-Brief summers
-Little rainfall
Boreal forest ecosystems
-50 to 60° N
-Winters are cold and dry
-Summers are mild and moist
-vegetation = coniferous trees
-Also known as ‘taiga’ ecosystems
Temperate Deciduous Forest ecosystems
-Mid-latitudes
-Countries include the UK
-Warm summers
-Relatively mild winters
-4 distinct seasons
-Rainfall all year round
-Deciduous trees
Hot deserts
-Between 15 and 35° N and S of the equator
-Little rainfall (under 250mm of rainfall per year)
-Hot during the day, cold at night (extreme diurnal range)
-vegetation = shrubs and trees which are sparsely distributed
-infertile, sandy soil
-Savannah grasslands
-Located between the tropics
-Distinct dry and wet seasons, though rainfall is still relatively low
-most vegetation = grasses, with a few scattered trees
Tropical rainforest ecosystems
-Located around the equator, between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
-Hot and wet all year round
-Areas of lush forest with dense canopies forming distinct layers
Polar ecosystems
-Found around the North and South poles.
-Cold, icy, and dry
-not much grows at all
-Remains dark for several months a year
-This means the growing season is very short (about 2 months)
What can the organisms in an ecosystem be classed as?
-Producers
-Consumers
-Decomposers
What is a food chain?
An arrangement of the organisms in an ecosystem to show what eats what, and thereby the direction in which energy transfers in an ecosystem.
Why does the biomass decrease as you move up a level in a food chain?
-Each organism is expending energy through exertion (movement, respiration).
-Only parts of the organism is eaten.