Global Flashcards
Define biosphere
Area in which all living organisms exist
Define biome
Group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities
Define population
Groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area
State 3 essential non-living components of an ecosystem
Water
Temperature
Sunlight
An ecosystem survives by a…..
Combination of energy flow and matter recycling
Define autotroph
Plants, some algae, bacteria that can capture energy from sunlight and use that to produce food
Define decomposer
Organisms that eat dead animals and plant material as well as other organic matter, converting back into form which can be re used
Omnivore
Animals who eat plants and animals
Carnivore
Animals who eat other animals
Herbivore
Animals that only eat plants
Describe the difference between a food web and a food chain
Food chain is a linear sequence of who eats whom in a biological community, a food web is a network of food chains or feeding relationships by which energy and nutrients are passed on
How much energy is lost each trophies level
10%
Eg producer has 100%
Primary consumer / trophies level 2 has 10%
Trophies level 3 has 1%
How is the energy lost through trophies levels / where does it go?
Lost through carrying out tasks
Processing nutritients
Maintaining body temperature
Explain why there is rarely a 4th order consumer in a food chain
Because so much energy is lost there isn’t enough nutrients for the consumer
Explain the role of these in a water cycle:
- Evaporation
- Transpiration
- Precipitation
- Condensation
- The process by which water changes from liquid to gas / vapour
- Process by which plants absorb water and then again release it in the form of vapour through the leaves
- Water released from clouds (rain, snow, hail)
- Process by which water vapour is changed back into liquid
What 3 ways is nitrogen taken into soil
Lightning (reacts with water and produces nitrates)
Nitrogen fixing bacteria are able to convert atmosphere nitrogen into ammonia or nitrates
When organisms die nitrifying/denitrifying bacteria in soil release nitrogen
Explain the role of nitrogen fixing bacteria
It takes nitrogen from the atmosphere, converting it into ammonium that is released into the soil or through the legumes
What happens when there is too much nitrogen in a lake
Algae bloom
What is a scientific term for algae bloom
Eutrophication
Explain consequences of how the algal-blooms affect the waterway ecosystem
Creates toxic water
Limits access to food for organisms in water
Stops photosynthesis in water
Plants and organisms die
Destroys ecosystems
Name the biological process that removed oxygen from the atmosphere
Respiration
Define a sustainable ecosystem
A sustainable ecosystem is a biological environment that can thrive and support itself without outside help
Name 2 long term stores of carbon
Limestone
Coal
Explain where carbon in coal and oil came from
Preserves of remains of once’s living organisms that is released through burning them
Explain the difference between nitrifying bacteria, nitrogen fixing bacteria and denitrifying bacteria
Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonium into nitrates and nitrites
Denitrifying bacteria obtain energy from nitrates and convert them back into gas N2
Nitrogen fixing bacteria can be found in soil as well as on submerged objects in lakes and ponds. They take gas N2 nitrogen and convert it into ammonium or nitrates
