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IB DP > ESS > Flashcards

ESS Flashcards

1
Q

What is a niche?

A

The particular set of abiotic and biotic conditions and resources to which an organism or population responds.

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2
Q

What is Bioaccumulation?

A

The build up of persistent/non-biodegradable pollutants within an organism or trophic level because they cannot be broken down.

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3
Q

What is Biomagnification?

A

The increase in concentration of persistent/non-biodegradable pollutants along a food chain.

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4
Q

What is a trophic level?

A

The position that an organism occupies in a food chain or a group of organisms in a community that occupy the same position in food chains.

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5
Q

What is a secondary pollutant?

A

Pollutants which are formed by primary pollutants undergoing physical or chemical change.

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6
Q

What is a species?

A

A group of organisms sharing characteristics that interbreed to produce fertile offspring.

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7
Q

What is a primary pollutant?

A

Pollutants which are active on emission.

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8
Q

Describe a stable equilibrium.

A

Over time, the system state features a disturbance, which is then resolved. —-v—-. Time x System state y

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9
Q

Describe an unstable equilibrium.

A

Over time, the sytem state features a disturbance, which is not resolved. —-\____. Time x System state y.

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10
Q

What is a negative feedback loop?

A

(Stabilising) Occurs when the output of a process inhibits or reverses the operation of the same process in such a way to reduce change - it counteracts deviation.

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11
Q

What is a positive feedback loop?

A

(Destabilising) Will tend to amplify changes and drive the system toward a tipping point where a new equilibrium is adopted.

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12
Q

How do you calculate Net Primary Productivity [NPP]?

A

By subtracting respiratory losses from Gross Primary Productivity. NPP = GPP - R

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13
Q

What is Gross Secondary Productivity [GSP]?

A

The total energy/biomass assimilated by consumers

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14
Q

How do you calculate Gross Secondary Productivity [GSP]?

A

By subtracting the mass of faecal loss from the mass of food eaten.

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15
Q

How do you calculate Net Secondary Productivity [NSP]?

A

By subtracting respiratory loss from the Gross Secondary Productivity.
NSP = GSP - R

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16
Q

What are maximum sustainable yields?

A

They are the equivalent to the net primary or net secondary productivity of a system.

17
Q

What are the storages and flows of the carbon cycle?

A

Storages: Organisms in forests, the atmosphere, soil, fossil fuels, and oceans.
Flows: Consumption (feeding), death and decomposition, photosynthesis, respiration, dissolving, and fossilisation.

18
Q

What are the storages and flows of the nitrogen cycle?

A

Storages: Organisms, soil, fossil fuels, atmosphere, and water bodies.
Flows: Nitrogen fixation by bacteria and lightning, absorption, assimilation, consumption, excretion, death and decomposition, and denitrification by bacteria in waterlogged soils.

19
Q

How do you calculate the efficiency of assimilation?

A

Gross productivity X 100 / food eaten.

20
Q

How do you calculate biomass productivity?

A

Net Productivity X 100 / gross productivity.

21
Q

What is a biome?

A

A collection of ecosystems sharing similar climatic conditions which can be grouped into 5 major classes - aquatic, forest, grassland, desert, and tundra.

22
Q

What does a tricellular model do?

A

One of atmospheric circulation explains the distribution of precipitation and temperature influencing structure and relative productivity of different terrestrial biomes.

23
Q

What is Zonation?

A

Changes in community along an environmental gradient to due to factors such as changes in altitude, latitude, tidal level, or distance from shore.

24
Q

What is Succession?

A

The process or change over time in an ecosystem involving pioneer, intermediate, and climax communities.

25
Q

What are r and K strategist species?

A

Species that have reproductive strategies that are better adapted to pioneer and climax communities respectively.

26
Q

What does solar radiation do?

A

Drive the hydrological cycle.

27
Q

What are the storages and flows of the hydrological cycle?

A

Storages: Organisms and various water bodies, including oceans, groundwater (aquifers), lakes, soil, rivers, atmosphere and glaciers, and ice caps.
Flows: Evapotranspiration, sublimation, evaporation, condensation, advection (wind-blown movement), precipitation, melting, freezing, flooding, surface run-off, infiltration, percolation, and stream-flow or currents.

28
Q

What is Biochemical Oxygen Demand [BOD]?

A

A measure of the amount of dissolved oxygen required to break down the organic material in a given volume of water through aerobic biological activity. BOD is used to indirectly measure the amount of organic matter within a sample.

29
Q

What can Eutrophication occur?

A

When lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters receive inputs of nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) which result in an excess growth of plants and phytoplankton.

30
Q

What are the storages of a soil system?

A

Organic matter, organisms, nutrients, minerals, air, and water.

31
Q

What are the transfers within the soil?

A

Biological mixing, leaching (minerals dissolved in water moved through soil) contribute to the organisation of the soil.

32
Q

What are the inputs and outputs of a soil system?

A

Inputs: Leaf litter and inorganic matter from parent material, precipitation, and energy.
Outputs: Uptake by plants and soil erosion.

33
Q

What are the transformations of a soil system?

A

Decomposition, weathering, and nutrient cycling.

34
Q

What is a soil texture triangle?

A

A diagram which illustrates the differences in composition of soils.

35
Q

What influences the sustainability of terrestrial food production systems?

A

Scale, industrialisation, mechanisation, fossil fuel use, seed/crop/livestock choices, water use, fertilisers, pest control, pollinators, antibiotics, legislation, and levels of commercial versus subsistence food production.

36
Q

What type of system is the atmosphere?

A

Dynamic (has undergone changes through geological time.

37
Q

Where can you find ozone-depleting substances?

A

Aerosols, gas-blown plastics, pesticides, flame retardants and refrigerants.

IB DP (2 decks)

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