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National 5 Biology > Life On Earth > Flashcards

Life On Earth Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What are some examples of Biomes?

A

Tropical rainforest, grassland, tropical savanna, desert, chaparral, temperate deciduous forest, temperate boreal forest, Arctic and alpine tundra

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2
Q

What are the problems and adaptations in the forest biome?

A

Problems ~ deforestation , cold winters, changing conditions.

Adaptations ~ losing fur.

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3
Q

What are the problems and adaptations in the aquatic biome?

A

Problems ~ could be strong currents, lack of light

Adaptations ~ able to make food in low light.

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4
Q

What are the problems and adaptations in the desert biome?

A

Problems ~ changing temperature, lack of water.

Adaptations ~ can go under ground during the day, can retain water, long roots

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5
Q

What are the problems and adaptations in the grassland biome?

A

Problems ~ dry, predators, lack of shade

Adaptations ~ camouflage, burrowing

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6
Q

What are the problems and adaptations in the tundra biome?

A

Problems ~ lack of food, marshy in summer, cold

Adaptations ~ thick fur

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7
Q

What effects the location of biomes?

A

Temperature and rainfall

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8
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The number of different species of organisms in an area

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9
Q

What does ‘high biodiversity’ mean?

A

Many different species of organism in an area.

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10
Q

What does ‘low biodiversity’ mean?

A

Few different species in an area

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11
Q

What are the human impacts on biodiversity?

A

Over hunting, over fishing, pollution, invasive species, climate change.

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12
Q

What does ‘population’ mean?

A

The total number of one type of organism.

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13
Q

What does ‘community’ mean?

A

All the organisms in that ecosystem.

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14
Q

What does ‘habitat’ mean?

A

The place where an organism lives.

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15
Q

What does ‘ecosystem’ mean?

A

The living and non-living things together.

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16
Q

What does ‘niche’ mean?

A

The role an organism plays within a community.

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17
Q

What can a niche include?

A

Light, temperature, nutrient availability, competition, parasitism, predation.

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18
Q

What is an abiotic factor?

A

Living factors that effect an organism.

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19
Q

What are some abiotic factors?

A

Competition for resources, disease, levels of grazing, predation, food availability, competition for light (plants)

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20
Q

What do predator-prey interactions do?

A

They keep a population stable.

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21
Q

What is the effect of low-grazing levels?

A

Grasses take over and out compete other plants: lower biodiversity

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22
Q

What is the effect of medium-grazing levels?

A

Grasses are kept at bay allowing other plants to grow: high biodiversity.

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23
Q

What is the effect of high grazing levels?

A

Herbivores end up eating most of the species: low biodiversity.

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24
Q

What is a biotic factor?

A

Non living factors that affect an organism.

E.g. pH, moisture in soil/air, temperature, light intensity.

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25
Q

What do you use to sample plants?

A

Quadats

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26
Q

What do you use to sample invertebrates?

A

Pitfall traps.

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27
Q

What is a possible error when using a quadrat?

A

Not doing enough.

Counting the number of species rather than the number of boxes containing the species.

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28
Q

What is a possible error when using a pitfall trap?

A

Not camouflaging it so predators will eat your samples.

Not putting in a drainage hole so the invertebrates drown.

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29
Q

What do you use to measure abiotic factors?

A

Using a light/moisture meter.

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30
Q

What is a possible error when measuring light intensity? What is the solution?

A

Shadowing the light meter.

This can be fixed by standing in the right direction.

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31
Q

What is a possible error when using a soil moisture meter? What is a solution?

A

Leaving moisture on the probe and contaminating the next sample.
This can be fixed by wiping it after sampling.

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32
Q

Why is a belt transept used?

A

To show how abiotic factors influence the abundance of plants. It is usually on a slope.

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33
Q

What starts off every food chain?

A

Producers (green plants)

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34
Q

What do the arrows represent in a food chain?

A

The transfer of energy.

35
Q

What is the source of energy in every food chain?

A

The sun.

36
Q

What does a herbivore eat?

A

Plants only.

37
Q

What do carnivores eat?

A

Meat only.

38
Q

What do omnivores eat?

A

Meat and plants.

39
Q

How much energy is lost at each stage of a food chain? Why?

A

90%

Through heat, movement and indigestible materials.

40
Q

What does a pyramid of biomass show?

A

The total mass of the organisms at each stage of a food chain.

41
Q

What does a pyramid of numbers show?

A

The number of organisms at each stage of a food chain.

42
Q

What does a pyramid of energy show?

A

The energy available at each stage of a food chain.

43
Q

What is the most reliable type of pyramid?

A

Biomass and energy are more reliable than a pyramid of numbers.

44
Q

What do animals compete for?

A

A mate, food, shelter/space, water.

45
Q

What might plants compete for?

A

Water/soil moisture, light availability, soil pH, nutrient availability.

46
Q

What is interspecific competition?

A

Competition between different species.

47
Q

What is intraspecific competition?

A

Competition between the same species.

48
Q

What are examples of nutrients?

A

Nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, water, mineral salts

49
Q

What are some examples of decomposers?

A

Fungi, bacteria and earthworms.

50
Q

What do decomposers do?

A

The break down organisms for food.

51
Q

What happens when decomposers break down organisms?

A

They release nutrients into the environment for living organisms to use.

52
Q

What is a mutation?

A

A spontaneous change in the DNA sequence that codes for a protein.

53
Q

What is an advantageous mutation? Example?

A

A mutation that gives the organism an advantage.

e.g. The peppered moth.

54
Q

What is an disadvantageous mutation? Example?

A

A mutation that gives the organism a disadvantage.

e.g. Cystic fibrosis.

55
Q

What is a neutral mutation? Examples?

A

A mutation that doesn’t effect the organism.

e.g. An extra toe.

56
Q

What are the causes of mutations?

A

Mutagenic agents (e.g. Radiation from uv light or X-Rays and chemicals found in cigarettes)

57
Q

What is variation?

A

Every organism in a population is different.

58
Q

What is a phenotype?

A

The physical appearance of an organism.

59
Q

What controls our phenotype?

A

Genes. Ex. Our eye colour gene controls our eye colour phenotype.

84
Q

What controls out phenotype?

A

Genes. Ex. Our eye colour gene controls out eye colour phenotype.

85
Q

What is an allele?

A

A form of a gene, e.g. each phenotype is controlled by a different form of a gene.

86
Q

What is an adaptation?

A

An inherited phenotype which helps an organism survive as it makes it well adapted to its environment.

87
Q

What is a structural adaption?

A

One that is physical, e.g. thick fur or large feet.

88
Q

What is a behavioural adaption?

A

One that is mental, e.g. hibernation.

89
Q

What do variations allow a species to do?

A

Evolve over a long period of time through natural selection.

90
Q

Why are antibiotics becoming resistant?

A

Because bacteria can have a mutation which allows it to be resistant to antibiotics, when this bacteria survives it can then pass on the allele making all its offspring resistant to the antibiotic.

91
Q

What is a species?

A

Organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile offspring are the same species.

92
Q

What is speciation?

A

The process where a new species is made.

93
Q

What are the stages of speciation?

A
  1. A population becomes separated by an isolation barrier.
  2. Mutations occur in each sub-population.
  3. Natural selection occurs for each sub-population as they have different selection pressures.
  4. Each sub-population evolves until they are so genetically different that they are no longer the same species.
94
Q

What is intensive farming?

A

Where you produce as high a yield as possible, this is to make enough food to support the growing human population.

95
Q

What is battery farming?

A

Farming where you keep animals indoors in crowded conditions.

96
Q

What are the benefits of battery farming?

A

The animals grow faster as they do not waste energy through movement or heat (due to the cramped conditions) so they have more energy for growth.

97
Q

What are the problems with battery farming?

A

Ethical concerns, Disease can spread easily.

98
Q

What is monoculture?

A

When the same crop is grown over a very large area.

99
Q

What can you do to get a high a yield as possible from monoculture farming?

A

Add pesticides, Add fertilisers, Remove hedgerows.

100
Q

What are the advantages of monoculture?

A

Machinery can be used which lowers labour costs and crops can have more than one harvest per year.

101
Q

Why are pesticides used?

A

To kill pest species on crops.

102
Q

What are the different types of pesticide and why is each one used?

A

Insecticide: kills insect species.
Fungicide: kills fungus.
Herbicide: kills weeds.
Bactericide: kills bacteria.

103
Q

What is bioaccumulation?

A

When pesticides are passed up a food chain and the levels increase as you go up and become more toxic and lethal.

104
Q

Why do farmers use fertilisers?

A

To reduce intraspecific competition between each crop plant in a field. They contain the nutrients that plants need so there is less competition for the ones in the soil.

105
Q

How do fertilisers effect biodiversity?

A

Fertilisers leach into fresh water from the feilds which causes algal blooms. Algae grows rapidly, because of the extra nutrients in the water, and covers the surface of the water. This blocks out sunlight causing the freshwater plants to die. Bacteria then reproduce rapidly due to the dead organic matter and use up all the oxygen in the water which kills all the animals.

106
Q

What are the alternatives to pesticides?

A 
Biological controls (species that eats the pest species)
GM crops (they can be genetically modified to be resistant to pests)
107
Q

How do you monitor freshwater pollution?

A

You can use an indicator species (an organism that can give us information on how polluted an area is due to their presence or absence)

National 5 Biology (3 decks)

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