Food Webs Flashcards
(22 cards)
Define abiotic
Non-living factor such as water, light, temperature
Define biotic
A living factor such as food source or mating partners
Define habitat
Place where an organism lives
What 6 things does a habitat need to provide for an organism to live there
Food, water, shelter, suitable temperature, mating partners and gases
Name 3 adaptations that an animal or plant would need to live in a desert environment
Ways to cope with lack of water, e.g. long roots or kidneys that can retain water.
Ways to cope with heat, e.g. small leaves to slow down water loss, being nocturnal.
Ways to cope with limited places to escape predators, e.g. Being nocturnal, camouflage, spikes or poison, burrows.
Define prey
An animal or insect that is eaten, e.g. beetle, small animal
Define predator
An animal that eats another animal, e.g. cats, foxes
Define herbivore
A consumer that only eats plants, e.g. rabbit, kangaroo
Define carnivore
A consumer that only eats the flesh of other animals, e.g. fox, cat
Define omnivore
A consumer that eats both plants and flesh of other animals, e.g. dogs, birds
Define opportunistic feeder
Taking the opportunity to feed on whatever food is available at the time, e.g. Dingoes, foxes
Define specialist feeder
Has a very limited diet, e.g. koala (gum leaves only), numbats (termite eater only)
What do the arrows in a food chain / food web indicate
Flow of energy through the food chain
What is a primary consumer
A primary consumer gets energy by eating the producer. They are herbivores, e.g. slugs, snails
What is a secondary consumer
A secondary consumer gets energy by eating the primary consumer, e.g. birds, fish
What is a tertiary consumer
These are consumers in the food chain/ web that are not primary or secondary or the apex predator, e.g. snakes, fish
What is an apex predator
This is the consumer in a food chain or web with no natural predators except humans, e.g. hawks or raccoons
Why are decomposes important in a food web
Decomposes breakdown the remains of dead plants or animals or their waste products so the nutrients can be released back into the soil to help plants grow. They also stop piles of dead and decaying matter from building up, e.g. flys, worms
What are scavengers
Scavengers eat the remains of dead or decaying plants or animals but do not release nutrients back into the soil
Give one example of how industry has affected the environment both positively and negatively
Logging, produces timber for housing industry/clears forests to plant trees which destroys the habitats of plants and animals found there.
Mining, provides electricity. Mine sites clear away habitats, chemicals could be added to water supply, loose soil washes into rivers destroying the habitat.
Farming, fees population, Natural habitats destroyed to plant crops / feed animals. Pesticides used can wash into water supplies changing the ecosystems.
Give one example of a successful introduced species - explain what it was introduced todo and why it was successful
Cactus moth successfully introduced to control spread of prickly pear cactus planted by settlers to feed the cochineal beetle used to due clothes red
Give one example of an unsuccessful introduced species - why
Cane toad introduced to eat sugar beetle destroying sugar cane crop. Very unsuccessful as cane toads population growing as doesn’t eat the beetles but anything it can swallow and has no natural predator
