Ecosystems

Question 1

What is a producer?

Answer 1

An organism which makes its own food via photosynthesis.

Question 2

What is photosynthesis?

Answer 2

A chemical process through which plants make glucose from carbon dioxide and water.

Question 3

What is a consumer?

Answer 3

An organism which cannot make its own food via photosynthesis and therefore needs to consume it.

Question 4

What is a scavenger?

Answer 4

An organism that finds dead animals or plants and uses them as a food source.

Question 5

What is a decomposer?

Answer 5

An organism that eats and breaks down dead or dying material.

Question 6

What is a microorganism?

Answer 6

A microscopic organism that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Question 7

What is a trophic level?

Answer 7

An organism’s position in a food chain or food web.

Question 8

What is an autotroph?

Answer 8

A producer.

Question 9

What is a heterotroph?

Answer 9

A consumer.

Question 10

What is population?

Answer 10

The total number of a type of organism living in an area.

Question 11

What is biodiversity?

Answer 11

The variety of all life on the Earth.

Question 12

What is agriculture?

Answer 12

The science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

Question 13

What is the primary consumer?

Answer 13

A consumer which eats the plants.

Question 14

What is a food chain?

Answer 14

• show a single, linear feeding relationship.

- are normally written from left to right so that the producer is on the far left.

Question 15

What is the top predator or final consumer called?

Answer 15

Tertiary consumer.

Question 16

What is a food web?

Answer 16

• show multiple, overlapping linear feeding relationships.

- are normally written and read from bottom to top so that the producers are in the lowest position.

Question 17

What are the main trophic levels?

Answer 17

Level 1 = Producers
Level 2 = Primary or first order consumers
Level 3 = Secondary or second order consumers
Level 4 = Tertiary or third order consumers

Question 18

What is the original source of energy in a food chain or web?

Answer 18

The sun is the original source because the producers have to use sunlight to make their food via photosynthesis.

Question 19

What are some benefits or micro-organisms?

Answer 19

• used in the production of food and drink like wine, beer, bread and yoghurt.
• prevent bad bacteria from getting into our bodies
• help with digestion
• can be used to make antibiotics or vaccines
• help to decompose dead material

Question 20

What are some harmful effects of bacteria?

Answer 20

• certain types of viruses known as pathogens can cause disease
• can cause disease in farm crops
• cause food to spoil

Question 21

What are some human activities which have an impact on biodiversity?

Answer 21

• land being cleared
• increased salinity
• increased waste production

Question 22

What are monocultures?

Answer 22

Farms grown across large areas containing only one type of crop. They can cause eutrophication (rapidly growing algae, which then decays using oxygen from soil), pest problems and fertilisers can end up in waterways. Though they can produce a lot of that type of food for society.

Question 23

What are pests?

Answer 23

organisms that compete for resources or potentially lower the yield of a crop.

Question 24

How can pests be controlled?

Answer 24

They can be managed through chemical or biological control. Chemical methods of control include usage of pesticides such as insecticide, fungicide, herbicide and fumigants. A biological control method could be introducing myxomatosis to rabbits, then calicivirus.

Question 25

What is bioaccumulation and biomagnification?

Answer 25

Bioaccumulation: increase in concentration of a pollutant in an organism.
Biomagnification: increase in concentration of a pollutant in a food chain.

Question 26

What is crop rotation?

Answer 26

It refers to the changing of the type of crop grown in a field, and involves alternating crops throughout the years.

Question 27

What is selective breeding?

Answer 27

It involves the development of breeds of animals and plants with desirable characteristics.

Question 28

What is asexual reproduction?

Answer 28

Growing plants from cuttings, runners, suckers, and tubers removes variation (and possible less desirable traits) that may occur through using seeds naturally.