Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Biology Semester Two > Ecosystems > Flashcards

Ecosystems Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
0
Q

What is a community?

A

A group of organisms living and interacting together (BIOTIC COMPONENT)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A community of organisms interacting with one another and with their physical surroundings.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the physical surroundings?

A

The non-living part of the environment (ABIOTIC COMPONENT).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is a biosphere?

A

The part of the Earth that is made up of all living things and the abiotic factors associates with these factors.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is a biome?

A

A broad scale life zone.

Eg: desert, grassland, forest etc.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is an environment?

A

It is the external surroundings in which a plant or animal live which tend to influence it’s development and behaviour.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is a habitat?

A

A place where an organism lives.

Eg: the habitat of koalas are eucalypt forests of Eastern Australia.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is a microhabitat?

A

A specialised area within a habitat where some organisms live.
Eg: around the trunk of a tree fern in a wet forest where mosses and fungi grow because it is shaded and moist.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is a niche?

A

The role of an organism in an ecosystem, often defined by the environmental, biological and other conditions in which it lives.

A particular niche, such as a predatory bird, may be filled by different animals in different ecosystems.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is an ecological niche?

A

Where an organism lives and it’s particular adaptations suited to that habitat. It also includes the role it has in it’s habitat.

Eg: a dolphin could potentially be in another niche than an other dolphin in a pod that utilises significantly different food resources and foraging techniques.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Features of an ecosystem include….

A

Self-sustaining: can be maintained without inputs from other ecosystems.
Can be small (pond).
Can be very large (biosphere).
Made by humans (urban ecosystem).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Steps for naming ecosystems include…

A
  1. Based on the abiotic environment eg: terrestrial or freshwater ecosystem.
  2. Based on the dominant species eg: mangrove or saltbush ecosystem.
  3. Based on the structure of the plant community eg: rainforest, grassland or forest ecosystem.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What are the environmental factors that affect an ecosystem (affect we her animals and plants will be found)?

A
  1. The temperature of the environment
  2. The humidity of the air
  3. The pH of the area
  4. The light intensity of the area
  5. Turbidity
  6. The rate of flow of water in the area
  7. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the water in the area
  8. The rate of flow of the wind in the area
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Changes in ecosystems include…

A
  1. Daily change- diurnal, nocturnal, low tide, high tide.
  2. Seasonal change- spring, summer, autumn, winter, the bush calendar.
  3. Migration- moving with the food supply.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Where does the Earth’s energy come from?

A

The sun

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is a producer?

A

A producer is an organism that uses an outside energy source like the sun to make energy-rich molecules.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What do most producers contain? And therefore what type of plants are producers?

A

Chlorophyll, a chemical that is required for photosynthesis.

Therefore green plants are producers.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is the product of photosynthesis?

A

Energy rich molecules, usually sugars, which serve as food.

They are made up of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon atoms.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Where is the energy stored in the molecules? How is the energy released?

A

In the chemical bonds of the atoms. When the bond is broken,energy is released to fuel life processes.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is chemosynthesis?

A

Production of organic compounds from inorganic materials using energy obtained from the oxidation of inorganic compounds.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is a consumer?

A

An organism that cannot make it’s own food (energy-rich molecules) and therefore obtain energy by eating other organisms.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

The four types of consumers are?

A

Herbivores- plant eaters
Carnivores- meat eaters
Omnivores- both plant and animal eaters
Decomposes- consume waste and dead organisms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What are decomposers?

A

Bacteria and fungi that consume and break down dead plants and animals and their waste products (organic matter) into soluble organic molecules (such as sugars) and eventually into inorganic nutrients (for example, phosphorus, carbon dioxide).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What and how do decomposes help the ecosystem?

A

Recycle once-living matter by breaking it down into simple, energy-rich substances.
These substances may serve as food for the decomposed or be absorbed by plant roots or be consumed by other organisms.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is a food chain?

A

A food chai is a simple model of the feeding relationship in an ecosystem.

Eg: shrubs are food for deer, and deer are food for mountain lions.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is symbiosis?

A

The relationship where two quite different organisms live and function together in a close association, to the benefit of at least one of them.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What are the three types of symbiosis?

A
  1. Mutualism
  2. Commensalism
  3. Parasitism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What is mutualism?

A

A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.

Eg: cowbirds and large animals (rhinoceros)
Termites and trichonympha

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What is commensalism?

A

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the it her is not affected.

Eg: clown fish and sea anemones

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What is parasitism?

A

A symbiotically relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is harmed.

Eg: tapeworm and humans
Cuckoo bird and warbler
Ticks and animals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Define: prey

A

Animals captured, killed and consumed by other animals.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Define predator

A

Animal that catches live prey for food, also called carnivore.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

What do the presence of predators usually do in an ecosystem?

A

Increase the number of different species that can live in an ecosystem.
Limit the size of prey populations.
Food and other resources are less likely to become scarce.
Competition between species is reduced.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

What are food webs?

A

Food webs consist of all the food chains that exist within a single ecosystem.
Each food chain is one chain that energy and nutrients may take as they move through the ecosystem.
All other interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem make up a food web.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

What are tropic levels?

A

The feeding level that an organism occupies in the food chain.

35
Q

What is ecological efficiency?

A

It is the efficiency with which energy or biomass is transferred from one tropic level to the next.

36
Q

What is succession?

A

A series of changes in a community in which new populations of organisms gradually replace existing ones.

37
Q

What is primary succession? Where does it take place?

A

Colonisation of new sites by communities of organisms- takes place on bare rock.

38
Q

Where does new bare rock come from?

A

Volcanic lava flow cools and forms rock

Glaciers retreat and expose rock

39
Q

What are pioneer organisms?

A

The first organisms to colonise a new site.

Eg: lichens are the first to colonise lava rocks.

40
Q

What is a climax community?

A

A stable, mature community that undergoes little or no succession.

Eg: the climax community would usually be a forest/woodland community.

41
Q

What is secondary succession?

A

A sequence of community changes that takes place when a community is disrupted by natural disaster or human actions- takes place on existing soil.

Eg:
A fire levels portions of a forest.
A farmer plots his field.

42
Q

What are the layers of the earth (and atmosphere) and what do they contain?

A

Troposphere- to 11 miles, contains air
Stratosphere- 11 to 30 miles, ozone layer (O3)
Hydrosphere- solid, liquid and gaseous water
Lithosphere- crust and upper mantle, contains non-renewable resources

43
Q

The two major components of ecosystems are…

A

Abiotic and biotic components

44
Q

Abiotic components include…

A

Water, air, temperature, etc.
Sets tolerance limits for populations and communities.
Some are limiting factors that structure the abundance of populations.

45
Q

Biotic components include…

A

Producers, consumers, decomposers.
Plants, animal, bacteria/fungi.
Biotic interactions with biotic components include predation, competition, symbiosis, parasitism, commensalism etc.

46
Q

What is a limiting factor?

A

A condition that limits a process, or the abundance and distribution of an organism.

Eg: limited light dismisses photosynthesis.

47
Q

What are the limiting factors on land?

A 
Sunlight
Temperature
Precipitation
Soil nutrients
Fire frequency
Wind
Latitude
Altitude
48
Q

What are the limiting factors in water?

A 
Light penetration- water clarity
Water currents
Dissolved nutrient concentrations- especially nitrogen, phosphorus and iron
Dissolved oxygen concentration
Salinity
49
Q

What does energy pass through?

A

Tropic levels

50
Q

Each level in a food web or food chain is…?

A

A trophies level

51
Q

In what order does energy move through a food chain?

A

Producer, consumer, detritivores and decomposers

52
Q

What are ecological pyramids? What types are there?

A

Graphic representations of the relative amounts of energy or matter at each tropic level.

Energy pyramid
Biomass pyramid
Pyramid of numbers

53
Q

What do food chains and food webs show about matter and energy?

A

Food chains and food webs show how matter and energy move from one organism to another through an ecosystem.

54
Q

Each trophic level contagions a certain amount of what?

A

Biomass (dry weight of all organic matter)

55
Q

What happens in each trophic level?

A

Chemical energy stored in biomass is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
With each trophic transfer, some usable energy is degraded and lost to the environment as low quality heat.

56
Q

What portion of what is eaten and digested is actually converted into an organisms’ bodily material or biomass?

A

Only a small portion

57
Q

What do food chains and food webs show about matter and energy?

A

Food chains and food webs show how matter and energy move from one organism to another through an ecosystem.

58
Q

Each trophic level contagions a certain amount of what?

A

Biomass (dry weight of all organic matter)

59
Q

What happens in each trophic level?

A

Chemical energy stored in biomass is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
With each trophic transfer, some usable energy is degraded and lost to the environment as low quality heat.

60
Q

What portion of what is eaten and digested is actually converted into an organisms’ bodily material or biomass?

A

Only a small portion

61
Q

What is ecological efficiency?

A

The transfer of energy between trophic levels.

62
Q

What is the typical ecological efficiency?

A

10% each time you go up a trophic level.

63
Q

Thus, the more trophic levels or steps in a food chain, the greater…

A

The cumulative loss of useable energy.

64
Q

Most energy that organisms use is lost as and through?

A

As waste heat through respiration

65
Q

What is biomass?

A

The amount of new growth (plant and animal tissue) that accumulates in an ecosystem.

66
Q

Carbon can be stored in five major areas. These include:

A
  1. Living and dead organisms
  2. Atmosphere (carbon dioxide)
  3. Organic matter in soil
  4. Lithosphere as fossil fuels and rock deposits
  5. Oceans as dissolved CO2 and shells
67
Q

How does carbon get into the ocean?

A

It enters through diffusion (creates carbonic acid).

68
Q

How does this carbon aid the oceanic life?

A

Some sea life use the bicarbonate to produce shells and body parts (coral, calms, some algae).

69
Q

Carbon in its inorganic form in the lithosphere. Examples and is created by…

A

Coal, oil, natural gas, oil shale, limestone.
Created from organisms (both plant and animal) that died a long time ago and accumulated on the bottom of oceans or lakes.

70
Q

Carbon in its organic form in the lithosphere. Examples.

A

Litter, humid substances found in soil.

71
Q

The source of high quality energy aids the earth in the following ways…

A

Energy of sun lights and warms the planet.
Supports photosynthesis.
Powers the cycling of matter.
Drives climate and weather that distribute heat and water.

72
Q

Forms of carbon include

A

CO2, organic C compounds like glucose.

73
Q

Processes that carbon is involved in include…

A

Photosynthesis: Carbon dioxide + water —-> glucose + oxygen
6CO2 + 6H2O—-> C6 H12 O6 + 6O2
—-> sunlight and chlorophyll

Cellular respiration: Glucose + oxygen—-> carbon dioxide + water + 36-38 ATP
C6 H12 O6 + 6O2 —-> 6CO2 + 6H2O + 36-38 ATP

74
Q

What is primary productivity?

A

The rate at which producers convert solar energy into chemical energy as biomass.

75
Q

What is gross primary production?

A

The conversion of light energy to chemical energy.

76
Q

What is the net primary production?

A

The energy that is accumulated in plant biomass.

77
Q

Primary productivity can also be described as…

A

The rate at which producers use photosynthesis to fix inorganic carbon into the organic carbon of their tissues.
(These producers must use some of the total biomass they produce for their own respiration)

78
Q

What is net primary productivity?

A

The rate at which energy for use by consumers is stored in new biomass (available to consumers).

79
Q

What is eutrophication?

A

Change of an aquatic ecosystem from one that is less fertile to one that is richer in nutrients and which has abundant algal and plant growth (high productivity). It is a natural process, but human activities dramatically increase the rate at which it occurs.

80
Q

What is bioaccumulation?

A

The accumulation (in an individual or in a trophic level) of a substance other than food that has been ingested from the environment.

81
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of all life forms- the different plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems of which they form a part.

81
Q

What is biological magnification?

A

The concentration of non-biodegradable substances along food chains, for example, the concentration of DDT in higher level carnivores; bioaccumulation.

83
Q

What is the carbon cycle? How does it occur?

A

The circulation of carbon through the environment.
Plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to form complex organic compounds.
These are converted into carbon dioxide and simple carbon compounds by respiration and decomposition,
The simple compounds are trapped in sediments that form new rock, coal, etc. and are released by weathering and the burning of fossil fuels.

84
Q

What is the nitrogen cycle?

A

The circulation of nitrogen through the environment.
Inorganic nitrogen compounds in soil and water are taken up by pants and converted into organic compounds, which may then be ingested by animals that eat the plants.
The organic nitrogen is returned to the soil or water in animal wastes or by the death and decomposition of plants and animals.
Soil-bourne bacteria convert the organic nitrogen compounds into inorganic compounds.
Some is lost to the atmosphere in gases.

Biology Semester Two (7 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions