Ecosystems and material cycles Flashcards
Abiotic
Non living factors in an environment
Trophic level
A particular feeding stage in a pyramid of numbers or biomass
Head Louse
Parasite
Sucks blood and causes infection
Transmitted via close contact
Sea anemone and clownfish
Mutualism
Fish has mucus layer and can’t get stung by anemone
Fish gets to hide in anemone
Fish excretion feeds anemone
interdependence
when 2 organisms rely on one another
Random block sampling
Make a 10m by 10m grid
Use random pairs of numbers to place quadrats
In each quadrat, record abundance of species
Find an average of the quadrats
Along transect sampling
Lay tape measure away in chosen direction
Place quadrat at regular intervals along line
In each quadrat record abundance of species and abiotic variables
Why do herbivores eat and poo so much
Plants are hard to digest due to having high cellulose
Not all of the material in plants is used to make more biomass as it is hard to digest
Why is energy transfer in food chains inefficient
In each trophic level, energy is lost as organisms use energy for heat, movement, respiration, waste, etc
What are the Primary and Secondary consumers
Primary - herbivores / omni
Secondary - carnivores / omni
How do producers use glucose?
Light is transferred into glucose via photosynthesis
Glucose converted into proteins, lipids, carbs and DNA
Biodiversity
When an environment contains a wide variety of different species interlinked
Eutrophication
-Nitrate Fertilisers washed into waterways by rain
-nitrates allow algae to make proteins and amino acids
-Algal blooms grow, blocking light from plants below
-When algae population is too high, algae runs out of nitrate and dies
-Decomposers break down dead matter and use up oxygen to respire
-Oxygen runs out, killing organisms in the water
-Decomposers break down dead organisms, releasing nitrates to repeat the cycle
Disadvantages of fish farming
Dense population allows disease
Waste causes eutrophication
Predators caught in nets
Farmed fish escape, spreading disease
Why is biodiversity vital
Food for us
Preserve food chains
Using animals for medicine
Tourism
Jobs
