Ecosystems and sustainability Flashcards
What is a place where an organism lives?
Habitat
What is a group of organisms and non-living factors and the inter-relationships between them known as?
Ecosystem
What is the role of an organism in its ecosystem?
Niche
What is all the individuals of the same species that live in the sam place called?
Population
What is all the individuals of different species that live in the same place called?
Community
How do biologists describe ecosystems?
Ecosystems are said to be dynamic. This is because the populations of different species will always change over time.
What is a biotic factor?
The ways living organisms can affect the other organisms in an ecosystem.
What is an abiotic factor?
The ways that the non-living environment can affect organisms in an ecosystem.
Give examples of biotic factors.
Parasitism
Predation
Disease
Food supply
Give examples of abiotic factors.
Temperature
Light intensity
Soil type
Water pH.
Why is it important for an ecologist to take samples from an area without trees?
- Increased inter-specific competition
- Lower light intensity
- Tree roots will decrease the levels of water in the soil.
- Tree roots will decrease the levels of minerals in the soil.
What do the arrows in a food chain show?
Transfer of energy
Why is not all available energy converted into biomass for the next trophic level?
- Energy is lost as heat
- Aerobic respiration
- Not all organism is eaten and parts wasted.
Why are there usually no more than 5 organisms in each food chain?
The amount of energy decreases. if there was a fifth organism, there could not be enough energy to transfer ti the fifth tropic level to support a variable population.
What are the properties of pyramid of energy?
- These are always pyramid-shaped
- This width of each rectangle represents the amount of energy entering each trophic level.
What are the properties of pyramid of biomass?
- This width of each rectangle represents the actual; biomass (dry mass) of organisms at each trophic level.
What are the properties of pyramid of numbers?
- The width of each rectangle represents the number of individuals present at each trophic level.
What does a pyramid of numbers show?
The population of each species is counted or estimated.
What does a pyramid of biomass show?
Place all organisms in an oven at 80c until all water has evaporated and record the dry mass.
What does a pyramid of energy show?
Burn the organisms in a calorimeter and record how much heat energy is released per gram of living tissue.
What are the advantages of pyramids of number?
This type of pyramid is an improvement on a food chain as it shows a quantitative measurement of the number of organisms at each trophic level.
What are the advantages of pyramids of biomass?
- This type of pyramid is an improvement on a food chain as it shows a quantitative measurement of the number of organisms at each trophic level.
- This type of pyramid takes into account the size of individual organisms at each tropic level.
What are the advantages of pyramids of energy?
- This type of pyramid is always pyramidal in shape.
- This type of pyramid is an improvement on a food chain as it shows a quantitative measurement of the number of organisms at each trophic level.
- This type of pyramid allows you to compare the efficiency of energy transfer between different trophic levels.
What are the disadvantages of pyramids of number?
This type of pyramid is not always pyramid shaped and can sometime become inverted.
What are the disadvantages of pyramids of biomass?
- This type of pyramid is not always pyramid shaped and can sometime become inverted.
- This type of pyramid only records a “snap shot” of the organisms in an ecosystem at any time. It does not take into account the productivity of the ecosystem.
- This type of pyramid is destructive to the ecosystem as its requires living organisms to be incinerated.
What are the disadvantages of pyramids of energy?
- This type of pyramid is destructive to the ecosystem as its requires living organisms to be incinerated.
What does Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) mean?
This is the rate at which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.
What does Net primary productivity (NPP) mean?
This is the amount of energy that remains after respiration that can be used to make plant biomass.
What does Gross secondary productivity (GSP) mean?
This is the amount of energy that animals obtain from their food.
What is Net secondary productivity (NSP) mean?
This is the amount of energy that remains after respiration that can be used to make animal biomass.
