Ecosystems and Material Cycles Flashcards
what re the 4 different levels organisms are split into?
- individual
- population
- community
- ecosystems
what is an individual organism?
a single organism
what is a population organism?
all the organisms of one species
what is a community organism?
different species living in a habitat
what is a ecosystem organism?
community of organisms along with non living conditions
what are the abiotic factors affecting communities?
- temperature
- amount of water
- light intensity
- levels of pollution
what re the biotic factors effecting communities?
- competition- i.e. for food and resources
- predation- eat each other do decreasing numbers
why is it important that communities are interdependent?
- rely on each others populations for food
- i.e. bees and flowers
what is mutualism?
the relationship between two organisms
i.e bees and flowering plants
what is parasites?
take what is needed to survive but the host doesn’t benefit.
i.e. flees
how can quadrants and belt transects be used to investigate the relationship between organisms and their environment?
- mark out line of area to study
- collect data log line using quadrates, regular intervals
- esimate percentage cover
- repeat to find mean number of organisms
- graph data to see correlation
what is eutrophication?
- excess amount of nutrients in water
- impact of human on biodiversity
how is eutrophication causes?
- nitrates put on fields as fertilisers
- when it rains, nitrates get into ground water and go to rivers
what are the negatives of eutrophication?
- nitrates cause algae to grow backing sunlight on rivers
- fish die. no oxygen
how catfish farms reduce biodiversity?
- food added to nets creating waste in water, leading to eutrophication
- predators become attracted to nets, getting trapped killing them. i.e. sea lions
- can become breading ground for parasites
how can reforestation increase biodiversity in deforested areas?
-replanting a variety will increase biodiversity and attract new animals that can reproduce
how can conservation schemes increase biodiversity?
- prevents species from dying out
- protect natural habitats
- breeding programs
what are the 6 main benefits for maintaining a high diversity?
- human food supply
- minimal damage to food chains
- future medicines
- cultural aspects
- ecotourism
- providing new jobs
what materials are constantly being passed through the abiotic and biotic components in an ecosystem?
- oxygen
- carbon
- proteins
- waste produced, like dead things decompose
how does the carbon cycle work?
- powered by photosynthesis
- animals eat plants which pass it on
- animals respire releasing back into the air
- when plants and animals die, they decompose releasing CO2
- fossil fuels release CO2
how does the water cycle work?
- sun evaporates water from land, sea and plants
- water cools, condenses and falls as precipitation
- process starts again
how can desalination be used to produce portable water?
- removes salts from salt water
- thermal distillation
- heat so water vaporises and salt stays at bottom
- condense evaporated water
what is the nitrogen cycle?
- 78% nitrogen
- plants absorb mineral ions and use nitrogen to make proteins
- decomposers break down dead plants containing nitrogen
what are the 4 main bacterias used in the nitrogen cycle?
- decomposers
- nitrifying bacteria
- nitrogen-fixing bacteria
- denitrifying bacteria
