Energy Transfer + Food Chains Flashcards
Population definition
All individuals of a particular species within a defined area
Community definition
A group of different populations living in the same area
Habitat definition
The physical, chemical and biological environment in which an organism lives
Ecosystem definition
A community of living things and the environment in which they live
How can quadrant sampling be used (3)
Calculate the total population of a species
Calculate the percentage cover of a species
Calculate the percentage frequency of a species
How do you calculate the total population of a species
Using quadrat sampling
Count the number of individuals in a quadrat
Can be used for large organisms
How do you calculate the percentage cover of a species
Quadrat is divided into 100 smaller squares and count how many squares have at least 50% cover of the species
Can be used for moss
How do you calculate the percentage frequency of a species
Quadrat is divided into 100 smaller squares and count the number of squares the species is in
Can be used for daisies
What are producers
These are plants which photosynthesise. They supply the energy for the ecosystem
What do food chains show
The relationships between species in a habitat
What are consumers
These are animals that eat the plants or other animals
What are decomposes
These are bacteria or fungi which decay dead material in order to recycle nutrients
What is determines the physical environment
This includes non-biological components such as water, soil, temperatures, sunlight
Where are decomposes mostly found
In the soil
What do all living things need
Energy
Where do living things originally get their energy from
The sun
What can producers do
Turn the energy from the sunlight into food
What is passed along a food chain
Energy
What are each stages of the food chain called
A tropic level
What are the names of the different the tropic levels
Producer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer
Tertiary consumer/ top predator
What is a herbivore
An animal that eats plants (primary consumers)
What is a carnivore
An animal that eats other animals (second and tertiary consumers)
What are food webs
When food chains overlap each other in an ecosystem is called a food web
What can ecological pyramids show that that food webs/chains can’t
Can show the number of organisms, biomass and amount of energy transfer