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Environmental biology Flashcards

1
Q

Define ecosystem

A

A community of plants animals and microorganisms with their environment

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2
Q

4 ecosystem services

A
  1. Supporting: required for the production of other services
  2. Regulating: benefits obtained by regulation of the environment
  3. Provisioning: material benefits obtained from the environment
  4. Cultural: non-material benefits obtained from the environment
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3
Q

What is the ecosystem approach

A

Integrated management of human activities, based off the knowledge about the ecosystem which aims to achieve sustainable use of goods and services

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4
Q

Examples of supporting services

A
  • Nutrient recycling
  • Photosynthesis
  • water cycling
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5
Q

Examples of regulatory services

A
  • Air quality
  • Water quality
  • Climate regulation: land cover can affect temp and precipitation
  • Natural hazard regulation: soil absorbing water and barrier beaches, wetlands
  • Pests and disease regulation: forests reduce standing water
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6
Q

Examples of provisioning services

A
  • Food
  • Fibre: wood fuel, timber, cotton and silk
  • Water
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7
Q

Examples of cultural services

A
  • Spiritual value
  • Inspirational value
  • Recreational value
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8
Q

Define biome

A

Major ecological community classified according to the predominant vegetation, and characterised by adaptions of the organisms

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9
Q

How climate change is affecting the mangrove ecosystem

A

Climate change effects stability sea level rise and rainfall:

  • Increase in rainfall reduces salinity
  • Reduced fresh water flow in dry season increase salinity
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10
Q

Ground water storage - 2 zones

A
  • 2 zones unsaturated (upper layer, varying water levels) and saturated
  • Saturated zone contains ground water
  • Top of ground water is called the water table
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11
Q

Define an aquifer

A

A water bearing formation which has enough ground water capable to supply to people.
Ground water is a big contributor to public water supply.

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12
Q

Different types of water pollutants

A
  • Inorganic
  • Organic sediments
  • Chemical plant nutrients
  • Pesticides
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13
Q

What is salinisation

A

An excessive increase of water soluble salts in the soil

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14
Q

Causes of salinisation

A
  • Irrigated areas with low rainfall and high evaporation rates
  • Soil has a texture where it cant wash out salts
  • Using water with high salt concentrations
  • Natural disaster e.g. tsunamis
  • De iceing roads with salt
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15
Q

Wetland ecosystem services

A
  • Climate regulation: through sequestering and releasing major portions of fixed carbon in biosphere. Peat bogs hold 30% of carbon.
  • Erosion protection
  • Natural hazard protection
  • Biodiversity
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16
Q

What are EU directives

A

Certain results that must be achieved by each member of state

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17
Q

What are the UK catchment abstraction management strategies

A

The amount of water you can take out of an area based on available water

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18
Q

What is artificial recharge

A

Increase the amount of water that enters a ground water reservoir by artificial means

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19
Q

Define biodiversity

A

The variety of life forms, the different plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystem they form

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20
Q

Where is biodiversity needed

A
  • Nitrogen cycle
  • Pollination
  • Agricultural products e.g Brassicaceae
  • Medicine
  • Cultural services: fishing, gardens and safaris
  • Bioremediation
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21
Q

Brassicaceae

A
  • Mustard family and approximately 3,700 species
  • Forms 10% of vegetable crop, and a major source of biofuels
  • There is a restricted gene poole due to crop domestication and breeding
  • Can be bred to use nitogen, phosphorus and water efficiently as well as resist pests and disease, also have a longer shelf life as the c genome brassica have the same number of chromosomes
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22
Q

Define bioremediation

A

Some bacteria are able to biodegrade organic compounds, converts contaminants to less hazardous substances.

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23
Q

Whats causes changes to biodiversity

A
  • Habitat change/ destruction
  • Invasive species
  • Pollution
  • Climate change: affects distribution and phenology
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24
Q

What causes habitat change and destruction

A
  • Urbanisation
  • Fishing
  • Fragmentation: populations become small and isolated leading to genetic drift
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25
Q

What is genetic drift

A

The change in allele frequency with which an allele occurs in a population due to random chance

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26
Q

Define ecology

A

The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms; and the interactions that determine their distribution and abundance.

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27
Q

Factors that determine abundance and distribution

A
  • Environmental conditions
  • Resource availability
  • Interaction with other organisms
  • Ability to disperse to new areas
  • Geographical barriers
  • Evolution
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28
Q

Define competition

A

Interactions between organisms in which the fitness of one or both is lowered by the presence of another when they have a shared resource

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29
Q

Intraspecific competition

A

Within the same species

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30
Q

Interspecific competition

A

Between different species with similar ecological requirements

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31
Q

Why is population growth not exponential

A
  • Limited resources
  • Competition
  • Density dependence
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32
Q

What is density dependence

A
  • Rate of population growth is slowed with increasing population size
  • Population is affected according to its size
  • Ability to produce new offspring and mortality
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33
Q

What is interference competition

A
  • Individuals interact directly

- Interfere with foraging, reproduction or by directly preventing physical establishment

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34
Q

What is exploitation competition

A
  • Individuals don’t directly interact

- Individuals are affected by what remains after it has been exploited

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35
Q

Define predation

A

Consumption of one organism by another, prey is alive when the predator attacks

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36
Q

3 categories of predators

A
  1. True predators: Kill prey straight after attack
  2. Grazers: consume only a part of the prey, not usually lethal
  3. Parasites: consume only part of the prey, not lethal, intimate association with host
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37
Q

How do invasive species cause damage

A
  • Out compete
  • Predation
  • Transmit pathogens
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38
Q

Characteristics of invasive species

A
  • Tolerate a variety of habitats
  • Grow and reproduce rapidly
  • Lack natural enemies
  • Aggressive for resources
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39
Q

Examples of invasive species

A
  • Grey squirrel out competes the red squirrel as it can digest a wider variety of food sources, also carried a virus
  • Himalayan balsam
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40
Q

Control to invasive species

A

Introducing natural enemies as a biological control agent. Should be specific predators.
e.g. pine martins feed on small mammals such as the grey squirrel as they spend more time on the ground

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41
Q

Define population

A

Individuals of the same species occupying a defined location at a defined time

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42
Q

Determinants of a population dynamic

A
  • Abiotic conditions
  • Intraspecific competition
  • Interspecific competition
  • Mutualism
  • Predation
  • Parasitism
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43
Q

Define mortality factor

A

What was believed to be the main cause of death in each phase of life cycle

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44
Q

How to calculate current population

A

N = N then + B -D + I + E

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45
Q

Define a patch and what are the key features

A

A homogeneous area that differs from its surroundings.

  • Habitat size
  • Dispersal difference
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46
Q

Define a metapopulation

A

A group of populations separated by space but consists of the same species. They interact as individuals move from one population to another.

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47
Q

Define community

A

Assemblage of species populations that occur together in space and time.

48
Q

What determines a community

A
  • Conditions and resources
  • Internal dynamics
  • Keystone species
  • History
49
Q

What are Gaps

A

Patches within which many species suffer local extinction at the same time

50
Q

Types of succession

A

Primary succession:

  • Development of a community new to the location
  • Early colonisers tolerate new conditions

Secondary succession:
-Re colonisation of a community after a disturbance

51
Q

What is systems ecology

A

How energy moves through an ecosystem to create food webs

52
Q

How is energy lost through a food web

A

Energy is lost with each transformation between kinetic and potential forms

53
Q

Units for energy

A
  1. Joules - energy requires to move 1kg through 1 m

2, Calorie - Heat required to raise 1 g of water to 1 degree

54
Q

What is productivity

A

The fixing of energy in tissue and gametes

55
Q

What is gross primary product (GPP)

A

The total amount of energy assimilated from photosynthesis

56
Q

What is respiration (R)

A

The energy used in metabolism

57
Q

What is net primary productivity (NPP)

A

The energy available after respiration for growth and reproduction

58
Q

What is turnover

A

Time taken to replace the standing crop

59
Q

What is the compensation point

A

Where light intensity is such that GPP = R

60
Q

How do decidous plants reduce there energy expenditure

A

Shed there expendable tissues in winter to reduce their maintenance

61
Q

What is a food chain

A

Transfer of energy down a sequence of trophic levels

62
Q

How to calculate assimilation efficiency

A

energy assimilated/ energy consumed

63
Q

How to calculate production efficiency

A

Energy fixed to tissue/ energy consumed

64
Q

How to calculate growth efficiency

A

Energy fixed to tissue/ energy assimilated

65
Q

Ectotherms and endotherms efficiencies

A
  • Endotherms have lower efficiencies as they have higher metabolic costs associated with maintaining body temp
  • Ectotherms have high efficiencies as they rely on the environment to maintain body temp
66
Q

What are food chains limited by

A
  • Cant be larger by 5 links

- Not enough territorial space to support the food chain

67
Q

Sea otter a keystone species

A
  • sea otters eats sea urchin which eats kelp

- Overfishing means whales now eat sea otters meaning less kelp forests

68
Q

What is a food web

A

Linked food chains

69
Q

Characteristics of the food web

A
  • Ratio of predator to prey stays the same for different communities
  • Number of linkages is double the number of species
  • Length of food chain is independent of habitat type
70
Q

Uses of food chains

A
  • Wildlife conservation by knowing how they interact

- Agriculture to reduce the number of links

71
Q

4 electron acceptors

A

O2, NO3^-, SO4^2-,Fe^3+

72
Q

3 electron donors

A

NH4, Fe^2+, H3^-

73
Q

Where did life begin

A

Hydrothermal vents:

  • Coupled H2 oxidation to CO2 reduction
  • Leads to acetyl coA
  • Synthesis of acetate and CH4 from H2 and CO2
  • CH4 is a greenhouse gas
  • Origin of cellular life from self replicating RNA
74
Q

What is the great oxygenic event

A

Increase in atmospheric O2

75
Q

Define weather

A

The condition of the atmosphere at a particular time and place with regard to temperature, moisture, cloudiness

76
Q

Define climate

A

The general condition of atmosphere over the last 30 years

77
Q

Evidence of climate change

A
  • Glaciers shrinking
  • Loss of ice on the mountains
  • Fall in arctic sea ice
  • Thawing of permafrost
  • Sea level rise
  • Extreme weather
78
Q

Summary of temperature change over the past 100 years

A
  • Global temperatures have risen by 1.2 degrees
  • Land warms faster than oceans
  • Arctic temperatures increase double the rate of the global average
79
Q

Summary of precipitation change over the last 100 years

A

-Has increased over land north of 30 degrees north

80
Q

Long term factors of the climate

A

Milankovitch cycle: 100,000 years

  • Eccentricity: shape of orbit
  • Precession: Earths wobble
  • Tilt: between 21. 5 and 24.5 degrees
81
Q

Short term factors of climate

A
  • Sun spots: more spots the more radiation 11 year cycle
  • Volcanoes: Ash clouds prevent light reaching the surface
  • Ocean oscillation: el nino and la nina
82
Q

El nino

A

Weak trade winds bring warm water to the east pacific, effecting the jet stream causing an increase in global temperature

83
Q

La nina

A

When strong trade winds causes an upwelling of cold water in the east pacific and a fall in global temperatures

84
Q

What can you learn from ice core data

A
  • Temperature from oxygen isotope ratios, the warmer it is the greater the depletion of O18 due to evaporation
  • CO2 concentration of air trapped in core
  • Carbon isotopes used for dating
85
Q

Origin of antropogenic CO2

A
  • Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
  • CO2 added by humans
  • Burning fossil fuels lower 13C:12C ratios in the atmosphere
86
Q

What is radiative forcing

A

A measure of how the energy balance of the earths atmosphere system is influenced when factors that affect climate are altered.

87
Q

2 sources of methane

A

Biogenic: ~ 70% global total
-Methanogenesis of acetic acid in livestock, wetlands, landfills and oceans

Non-biogenic:

  • Fossil fuels
  • Biomass burning
  • Waste treatment
88
Q

Sinks of methane

A
  • Atmosphere
  • Soil
  • Stratosphere
89
Q

Different greenhouse gases

A

Nitrous oxide
Carbon dioxide
Methane
CFCs

90
Q

Nitrous oxide

A

230x more potent than CO2

Long lived 110 years

91
Q

Halocarbons (CFC)

A
  • Leads to the destruction of the ozone

- Limited use to the montreal protocol

92
Q

What are Aerosols

A
  • Small particles suspended in the atmosphere
  • Absorb radiation and scatter it back into space
  • Causes overall cooling
  • E.g sulphates aerosols from volcanoes
93
Q

Define albedo

A
  • The fraction of solar energy reflected from the earth back into space.
  • Snow and clouds have a high albedo
94
Q

2 roles of the ozone

A
  1. A green house gas

2. Filters out UV radiation

95
Q

4 storylines from the special report on emission scenarios

A

A1
A2
B1
B2

96
Q

A1 storyline

A

-Rapid economic growth
-Global population peeks in the mid century and declines after
-3 further groups:
Fossil fuel intensive
Non fossil energy sources
Balance across all sources

97
Q

A2 storyline

A
  • A heterogeneous world
  • Continuously increasing global population
  • Economic growth is slower
98
Q

B1 storyline

A
  • Convergent world
  • Global population peaks in the mid century and declines after
  • Rapid changes to economic structure to services and information
  • Introduction of clean and resource efficient technology
99
Q

B2 storyline

A
  • Local solutions to economic, social and environmental stability
  • A continuously increasing global population
  • Intermediate levels of economic growth and less rapid and more more diverse technological change
100
Q

What is the representative concentration pathway

A

Scenarios based on total radiative forcing in the year 2100 compared to 1750

101
Q

Impacts on oceans and low lying regions

A
  • Increase in sea surface temp causing coral bleaching, change fish migration and increase disease and algal blooms
  • Decrease pH and increase in acidity results in declining calcification
  • Increase sea level rise due to thermal expansion and melting of ice caps
  • Flooding/ submerged low lying land
  • Salination of water and soil so less vegetation
102
Q

Impacts of food production

A
  • Increase CO2 increases photosynthesis of C3 plants, enhancement of crops
  • Increase temp reduces yield of cereal as they develop faster and cant fix as much CO2
  • Temperate regions benefit from increased temp due to longer growing season
103
Q

High temp winter on crops

A
  • May not develop cold hardiness and die due to late frost

- Flowers may not develop the next year

104
Q

Elevated CO2 levels effects on crops

A
  • Partial close of the stomata
  • Reduced C02 diffusion and water loss
  • Plant becomes more water efficient
105
Q

Impacts on livestock

A
  • Thermal stress reduces reproductive potential

- Drought and climate variability might lead to livestock loss

106
Q

Define mitigation

A

Actions that reduce greenhouse emissions

107
Q

Examples of mitigation

A
  • Energy efficiency
  • Reducing need to travel, increasing public transport
  • Renewable energy
  • Reducing biodegradable waste in the landfill
  • Promote land use on carbon sinks
  • Emission reduction strategies
108
Q

Adaptions

A

Actions that minimise or prevent negative impacts of climate change

109
Q

Impacts of climate change

A
  • Loss of biodiversity
  • 10-15% of the worlds species could become extinct over the next 30 years
  • Increase temp
  • Variable precipitation
  • Increase flooding, mass population displacement
110
Q

Different adaptations for flooding

A
  • Strategic development on locations offering better protection
  • Ensuring building are resilient to climate change impacts
  • Suitable drainage and water efficiency in buildings
  • Increase flood storage capacity and develop new water resources
  • Suitable flood management and migration of habitats and species are not foreclosed
111
Q

Food adaptions to climate

A
  • Increase with irregation, fertiliser and seed development
  • Change diet from beef to reduce methane
  • Breed crop varieties that are tolerant to heat, drought and water logging
  • Protect livestock from heat with shade and air flow
112
Q

Define conventional farming

A

Uses all available tools to increase yield

113
Q

Define organic farming

A

Natural methods are relied upon to increase yield and control pests and disease. No synthetically produced compounds used.

114
Q

Define low input agriculture

A

Uses less synthetic fertilisers and pesticides recommended

115
Q

Science and technology in agriculture

A
  • Knowledge about crop, pest, weed, disease to manage crops
  • Precision farming
  • Crop genetics

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