Ecosystems

Question 1

Abiotic factor

Answer 1

A non-living factor of the environment

Question 2

Adaptation

Answer 2

Any feature that assists an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment

Question 3

Biodiversity

Answer 3

The range of different species in a community

Question 4

Biological control

Answer 4

The use of a natural enemy of a pest to control numbers of that pest

Question 5

biotic factor

Answer 5

a living factor of the environment

Question 6

chemical pollution

Answer 6

chemicals escaping into the environment that can damage ecosystems

Question 7

commenalism

Answer 7

a relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

Question 8

community

Answer 8

all the living organisms in an ecosystem

Question 9

competition

Answer 9

a relationship between organisms that are trying to use the same limited resource

Question 10

consumer

Answer 10

an organism in a food chain that feeds on other organisms

Question 11

decomposers

Answer 11

organisms that break down the bodies of dead organisms and animal wastes and recycle material by secreting enzymes

Question 12

ecology

Answer 12

the study of how organisms react with each other and their non-living surroundings

Question 13

ecosystem

Answer 13

a place where organisms and their physical surroundings create an environment that is different from others nearby

Question 14

ectothermic

Answer 14

animals that obtain body heat from outside their body

Question 15

endothermic

Answer 15

animals that can generate body heat internally

Question 16

environment

Answer 16

all the factors in an organisms surroundings that affect its survival

Question 17

epicormic growth

Answer 17

growth of new shoots from the stems of trees and shrubs after fires

Question 18

feral animal

Answer 18

an introduced species of an animal that has been established in the wild

Question 19

firestick farming

Answer 19

fires were deliberately lit at certain times of the year to create conditions suited to plant regrowth

Question 20

flood

Answer 20

an event where water covers the land and does not soak in for a long time

Question 21

food chain

Answer 21

a sequence of organisms feeding on each other

Question 22

food web

Answer 22

connected food chains showing who eats whom in a community

Question 23

global warming

Answer 23

the increase in temperature of earth’s atmosphere

Question 24

habitat destruction

Answer 24

damage caused to the factors in the environment needed for survival

Question 25

insecticides

Answer 25

chemicals that kill insects

Question 26

interdependence

Answer 26

relationship between organisms, where each affects the other’s survival

Question 27

introduced species

Answer 27

species not native to australia

Question 28

lignotuber

Answer 28

a swollen underground stem of eucalypts that can resist fire

Question 29

mallee

Answer 29

a type of eucalypt that has lignotubers

Question 30

mutualism

Answer 30

a relationship in which both organisms benefit

Question 31

overcropping

Answer 31

killing more animals than can be replaced by the breeding cycle

Question 32

parasitism

Answer 32

relationship where one organism lives on another and feeds off it. one benefits and one is harmed

Question 33

photosynthesis

Answer 33

the process by which plants make food

Question 34

predatation

Answer 34

relationship where one organism kills and eats another

Question 35

producers

Answer 35

organisms that make food for the community

Question 36

productivity

Answer 36

how well an area supports life

Question 37

pyramid of energy

Answer 37

a diagram that shows the energy in the food materials at each level in the food chain

Question 38

sustainability

Answer 38

an ecosystem has the ability to maintain suitable living conditions for the community

Question 39

What benefit does water give in an environment?

Answer 39

Buoyancy, solvent for materials in cells and allows movement of chemicals for chemical reactions

Question 40

What does temperature do in an environment?

Answer 40

Affects speed of chemical reactions

Question 41

Explain oxygen levels in water

Answer 41

more in cold, more in faster moving, less in depths so fish move slower

Question 42

detritivores

Answer 42

Animals that ingest detritus and in the process break up organic matter into smaller pieces

Question 43

Benefits of biodiversity

Answer 43

More likely to be sustainable,less affected by environmental changes and introduced species

Question 44

4 reasons to protect ecosystems

Answer 44

cultural value, economics, survival, compassion

Question 45

Habitat destruction

Answer 45

Damage done to the environmental aspects that an organism depends on for survival

Question 46

Ecosystem diversity

Answer 46

The amount of different natural ecosystems in a region

Question 47

species diversity

Answer 47

the amount of different species in an ecosystem

Question 48

genetic diversity

Answer 48

the amount of different alleles within a single species and the characteristics that they produce

Question 49

biomass

Answer 49

total dry weight of biological material in the community

Question 50

What are the 2 main fire regimes?

Answer 50

cool fires(traditional) and hot fires

Question 51

What is prescribed burning?

Answer 51

Similar to the traditional regime, cool fires lit every 4-6 years to protect homes in fire prone areas and reduce leaf litter to prevent hot fires

Question 52

What adaptations do australian plants have to fire?

Answer 52

grass trees flower after fire through release of acetylene gas, thick bark on eucalypts, banksia, hakea and acaica,eucalypts have epicormic buds, bansias and hakeas have seeds that germinate in fertile ash, mallees have lignotubers.