Ecosystems Flashcards
What is a Biosphere?
The biosphere is the layer on the earth where life exists. This layer ranges from heights of up to ten kilometres above sea level, to depths of the ocean at more than 8 kilometres deep.
What is an Ecosystem?
The interaction of living organisms in a physical environment.
What is the Atmosphere?
The atmosphere is the blanket of gases surrounding the earth making the land habitable.
What is the lithosphere?
The litosphere is the layer of earth. It includes the upper mantle and crust. It is the land we walk on everyday or the rocky terrain.
What is a hydrosphere?
All the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth’s surface, such as clouds.
What does the Abiotic mean?
Non-living chemical and physical parts of a natural habitat.
What does Biotic mean?
A living part of a natural habitat.
What is a producer?
Any organism that is capable of producing its own food, usually through photosynthesis.
Autotrophs
What is a consumer?
Any organism that cannot produce its own food and must, therefore, get its energy by eating, or consuming, other organisms.
Heterotrophs
What is a decomposer?
An organism (bacteria or fungi) that lives on and breaks down dead organisms into useful things like minerals and rich soil.
What is a herbivore?
An herbivore is an organism that eats plant material only.
What is an omnivore?
A omnivore is an organism that eats both plant and animal material.
What is carnivore?
A carnivore is an orgasmism that eats only animal material.
What is a food chain?
A food chain shows who eats what in an ecosystems.
An example is; cabbage, caterpillar and a magpie.
Cabbage > Caterpillar > Magpie.
What effects do humans have on the ecosystem?
Humans are adding more and more green house gases and carbon dioxide into the ecosystem. It’s like adding more stuffing to the blanket already around the world.
