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.
How can we reduce bush fires?
Keeping children away from matches. Doing regular burn outs. Not throwing burning cigarettes out the window.
What are some plants specifically adapted to fires?
Banksias, grass trees and eucalyptus trees.
What is a type of plant that releases its seeds after fires?
Banksias. They release their seeds on the newly burnt areas.
What are firebreaks?
A firebreak is a track that runs around the perimeter of a property. Firebreaks can stop fires themselves in mild conditions, and they are essential as control lines from which to back burn to stop bushfires in extreme conditions.
What is a habitat?
A habitat is a particular area where different organisms live together.
What is fuel reduction?
The idea of fuel reduction is to remove surface fuel to reduce the risk of bushfires starting and making it easier for fire fighters to control.
What is back burning?
When an area is cleared by a controlled area to keep the chances of a bushfire low. Firefighters are on hand and it is always very well planned.
What is animal husbandry?
Animal husbandry is the science of breeding and caring for farm animals. It can include being a Shepard or goat herd.
What are the xylem & phloem tubes made of?
Both xylem & phloem tubes are made up of long cells arranged end on end to form long tubes.
What is the phloem?
The tube used for the transport of sugars from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
What is the xylem?
The tube used for the transport of water & minerals up the stem from the roots to the leaves.
What is photosynthesis?
The act of getting energy from the sun.
How do plants get their energy?
Plants get energy from the sun through photosynthesis.
What is the trophic level?
Another name for the positioning of an organism in a food web.
What is a food chain?
A food chain shows the list of organisms in order of what eats what with an arrow between each organism indicating the flow of energy.
What is a food web?
A food web is multiple food chains linked together representing the feeding relationships between the different organisms in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is a measure of the number of different species in a particular ecosystem.
What is a detritvores?
Small intertrabea which eat and dead and decaying matter.
