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Biology > Ecosystems > Flashcards

Ecosystems Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Individual

A

A single organism

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2
Q

Population

A

All the organisms of one species in a habitat

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3
Q

Community

A

All the organisms of different species living in a habitat

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4
Q

Ecosystem

A

A community of organisms along with the abiotic factors and their interactions

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5
Q

What is interdependence?

A

When organisms depend on each other for things like food and shelter in order to survive and reproduce
-change in pop can have huge knock on impacts for others in community

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6
Q

What is mutualism?

A

A relationship between two organisms for which both benefit
E.g. bees visit flowers for nectar and pollen is transferred to them, they then spread this with others plants they land on
-best get food, plants can reproduce

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7
Q

What is a parasitic relationship?

A
  • parasites live on or within a host organism
  • the parasite benefits, the host does not and may be harmed
  • e.g. fleas eat dogs blood but dogs get nothing in return
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8
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A

Temperature
Amount of water
Light intensity
Levels of pollutants

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9
Q

What biotic factors are there?

A

Competition for the same resources, if there isn’t enough population size decreases as can be supported
Predation

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10
Q

What do plants do with sun energy?

A
  • convert a small % into glucose of which some is used immediately in respiration and the rest stored in biomass
  • organism that east this uses so,e of the energy the rest is stored in its biomass
  • this process continues
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11
Q

What happens if the energy isn’t stored as biomass?

A
  • some energy is used by organisms to survive e.g. respiration
  • this energy isn’t stored as biomass so isn’t transferred to the organism at the next tropic level
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12
Q

Does all biomass energy get transferred?

A

No as not all of the organism gets eaten

  • undigested material is lost from the food chain as faeces
  • this is why most food chains don’t go beyond 5 food chain levels so energy is lost at each level so there isn’t enough to support organisms
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13
Q

Biomass

A

The mass of loving material that makes up an organism

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14
Q

What does a pyramid of biomass show?

A
  • how much creatures at each level of a food chain would weight if put together
  • since biomass is a store of energy this measure show much energy is at each stage
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15
Q

Equation for efficiency of energy transfer?

A

-energy transferred to next level/energy available at previous level x100

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16
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of living organisms in an ecosystem

-human interaction within ecosystems can effect this both positively and negatively

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17
Q

What is eutrophication

A
  • fertilisers enter water adding excess nitrates
  • this excess causes algae to grow fast and block out sunlight
  • plants can’t photosynthesis due to lack of light and start to decompose
  • which more food available, micro organisms that feed on decomposing,ants increase and use up oxygen in water
  • organisms that need oxygen to survive due as water become anoxic
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18
Q

How can eutrophication occur?

A

-if too much fertiliser is applied and it rains afterwards that can run off

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19
Q

How does fish farming reduce biodiversity?

A
  • food is added to nets for fish producing huge levels of waste that can leak into the open water causing eutrophication
  • this can act as a breeding ground for parasites which can kill wild animals
  • predators becomes attracted to the net, get trapped and die
  • sometime fish escape =problems for indigenous species
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20
Q

Solution for fish farming?

A
  • fish are farmed in large tanks rather than in one water nets
  • low in biodiversity as only one species is farmed
  • these are kept free from plants and predators and parasites are usual,y killed
21
Q

How can introducing non-indigenous species reduce biodiversity?

A
  • can be unintentionally or intentionally introduced
  • non indigenous species can outcompete indigenous species for resources like food and shelter so they decrease in number and die out
  • they can also bring new diseases infecting and killing indigenous species
22
Q

What is reforestation?

A
  • replanting forested areas
  • frets have high biodiversity due to wide variety of biotic factors that provide food and shelter for other organisms
  • can be carefully planned to maximise impacts e.g. deliberately plainly a variety of tree species
23
Q

What are conservation schemes?

A
  • protecting a species natural habitat
  • protecting species in safe areas outside of their habitat including captive breeding programmes to increase numbers
  • seed banks to store and distribute rate endangered plants
24
Q

Benefits of conserving biodiversity?

A
  • Protection of human food supply for now and future generations
  • minimal damages to food chains as if one species become extinct others will too be effected due to interdependence
  • medicines in undiscovered plants
  • providing jobs like in ecotourism that bring money in
  • cultural aspect e.g. world heritage sites
25
Q

How does increasing human population effect food security?

A
  • as people become wealthier their diets change e.g. a wider variety of food and eating more fish and meat
  • less energy/biomass every time you more up a tropic level e.g. can produce more food through crops than grazing animals
  • risk of overfishing so not enough for future
26
Q

How can human activity cause less food security?

A
  • burning fossil fuels releases harmful gases causing temps to rise through global warming
  • This can effect growth patterns of crops hence reducing yields
  • also soil/water pollution through things like acid rain can effect ability to grow food
27
Q

How has sustainability effected food security?

A
  • crude oil is running out so currently an increase in the growth of crops for biofuels which takes up land that otherwise might be used for food crops
  • need to balance land use
  • high input cost of farming (fertilisers and machinery) may make it too expensive for farmer’s to maintain food producing in certain areas
28
Q

How do new pests and pathogens effect food security?

A
  • can cause damage to livestock reduce yield

- stead new diseases that organisms might not be resistant to

29
Q

How are materials constantly cycled in an ecosystem?

A
  • living organisms are made from elements taken from the environment
  • these are turned into complex compounds which are passed along food chains
  • waste products and dead organism are decomposed so the elements within return to the soil or air to be taken in again by other plants
30
Q

Why is the carbon cycle important?

A
  • there’s only a fixed amount in the world, this ensures its recycled
  • decomposition of materials means habitats can be maintained for the organisms that live there e.g, nutrients to the soil
31
Q

Why is water cycle important?

A
  • droughts can can cause big problems and the water cycle means that it is constantly recycled to reduce this
  • sea, clouds, rains, transpiration/interception,drains into sea
  • all organisms need water to survive
32
Q

What is desalination?

A
  • Removes salts and mineral ions from sea water
  • thermal desalination means the water is boiled in am enclosed vessel so the water evaporates
  • steam rises whilst a salts stay at the bottom
  • steam ravels down a pore and is condensed back into pure water
  • expensive as requires large amounts of thermal energy and releases harmful gases through burning
33
Q

What is reverse osmosis?

A
  • reverses osmosis to get rid of impurities
  • salt water is treated to remove solids and then is fed at high pressure into a vessel with a partially permeable membrane
  • pressure causes the water molecules to move in the opposite direction to osmosis (higher salt concentration to lower)
  • as the water is forced through the salts are left behind
34
Q

What is the nitrogen cycle?

A

Nitrogen in the atmosphere is very uncreative so can’t be used by plants but nitrogen is needed for making proteins for growth
-plants absorb these from the soil and pass them on through food chain

35
Q

What is decomposer (type of bacteria in nitrogen cycle)?

A

Decomposes proteins and urea and turns them into ammonia

Ammonia forms ammonium ions in solution that plants can use

36
Q

What is nitrifying bacteria?

A

Turns ammonia in decaying matter Into nitrites and then into nitrates
-these can be taken up by plants in their roots

37
Q

What is nitrogen fixing bacteria?

A

Turns atmospheric into ammonia which forms ammonium ions
-some live in the soil, some live in the nodules of legume plants (peas and beans)
Some can leak out during growth, they have a mutualistic relationship, bacteria get food from the plant and plants get nitrogen ions

38
Q

What is denitrifying bacteria?

A

Turns nitrates back into nitrogen gas

No benefit to living organisms, these are often found in waterlogged soils

39
Q

What can lightening do in the nitrogen cycle?

A

Due to the huge amounts of energy they can make nitrogen react with oxygen in the air to give nitrates

40
Q

How do farmer’s increase nitrates in the soil?

A

Crop rotation= different crops are grown each year in a cycle, it usually includes nitrogen fixing crops helping to put nitrates back into the soil for following years
-fertilisers =(manure/compost) recycled the nutrients left in plant and animal waste retuning them to soil through decomposition, can be artificial ones as well but these are expensive

41
Q

What raw indicator species?

A

Organisms very sensitive to environmental change can can indicate the surrounding conditions their in

42
Q

What indicator species show water pollution?

A
  • if raw sewage containing nitrogen are released into a river, microorganisms in the water increase using up oxygen
  • freshwater shrimp are sensitive to oxygen concentration so them and stonefly indicate clean water
  • bloodworms and sludge works indicate very high levels of water pollution
43
Q

What indicative species show air pollution?

A
  • lichen are sensitive to sulphur dioxide, the more lichen in an area the cleaner the air is
  • black spot fungus will also indicate clean air
  • some lichens of a certain colour indicate dirty air
44
Q

What are other ethos’s to indicator species?

A

Dissolved oxygen meters and chemical tests are used accurately to measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen in water
-electronic meters show concentration of sulphur dioxide in the air

45
Q

Pros and cons of indicator species?

A
  • cost effective and simple
  • given long term pollution levels
  • don’t give accurate readings with figures and also can be confusing or misinterpreted (e.g. some lichens in both clean and dirty air)
46
Q

What conditions speed is decomposition?

A
  • temperature speeds up the reaction so decay happens waster until the enzymes denature
  • water content as decay happens faster in moist conditions as they need water to survive and process
  • oxygen availability is faster with more as it is needed for aerobic respiration, those who don’t need oxygen work slower anyway
47
Q

How do you preserve food?

A
  • in fridges or freezes lowers the temp slowing down rate
  • storing food in airtight cans stops microorganisms getting in and also reduce the amount of O2 e.g. can be stored in oil
  • drying food removes water needed to survive so can be salted meaning they loose water by osmosis
48
Q

What are ideal conditions to make compost?

A

=decomposed organic matter that is used as fertilise
-produces quickest in warm, moist, oxygen rich conditions e.g. compost bins that can have mesh sides for more oxygen, and most/heat is generated by decomposed themselves yet insulators might be used

Biology (10 decks)

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