LIVING WORLD Flashcards
What is a producer?
Organism that uses sunlight energy to produce food
What is a consumer?
An organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms
What is a decomposer?
An organism that gets its energy by breaking down dead material (e.g. bacteria and fungi)
What is the nutrient cycle?
Dead material decomposers and releases nutrients into soil
Plants take up these nutrients
Plants are eaten by consumer
Plant/consumer dies so nutrients returned to soil
What does a food chain show?
What eats what in an ecosystem
What does a food web show?
Lots of food chains and how they overlap
What determines what ecosystem forms?
The climate in an area
What are the seven major types of ecosystems?
Tundra
Grassland
Boreal forest
Tropical rainforest
Hot desert
Polar
Temperate deciduous forest
What are the characteristics of a Tundra ecosystem?
Found at high latitudes
Winters are very cold
Summer is brief
Little rainfall
Hardly any trees
Layer of permanently frozen ground
What are the characteristics of a Boreal forest ecosystem?
Winters are cold and dry
Summers are mild and moist
Trees are evergreen and have needles
What are the characteristics of a Tropical rainforest ecosystem?
Found around the equator
Hot and wet all year round
Lush forest and dense canopies
What are the characteristics of a Hot desert ecosystem?
Little rainfall
Very hot in day
Very cold in night
What are the characteristics of a Polar ecosystem?
Found around the north and south poles
Not much grows at all
They remain dark for several months each year
What are the characteristics of a Temperate deciduous forest ecosystem?
Four distinct seasons
Summers are warm
Winters are mild
Rainfall all year round
Trees lose their leaves in winter to cope with colder weather
What are the characteristics of a Savannah grassland ecosystem?
Found between the tropics
Distinct dry and wet seasons
Rainfall is low
Most vegetation is grass with a few scattered trees
What are the characteristics of a Temperate grassland ecosystem?
Higher latitudes
Variation in temperature
No trees just grasses
What is the climate of tropical rainforests?
Same all year round
Hot between 20-28 degrees
Rainfall is very high at around 2000mm per year
What are the plants like in tropical rainforests?
Most trees are evergreen
Many trees are really tall and vegetation cover is dense
Lots of epiphytes
What is the soil like in tropical rainforests?
Isn’t very fertile as heavy rain washes nutrients away
What is biodiversity?
The variety of organisms living in a particular area
Why do tropical rainforests have a high biodiversity?
Stable and productive environments because they’re climate stays the same so organisms don’t have to adapt to changing conditions
What can lead to loss of biodiversity in tropical rainforests?
Deforestation
How do the warm and wet conditions in tropical rainforests help the soil?
Helps fungi and bacteria to decompose dead material rapidly which makes the surface soil high in nutrients so plants can grow easily
Why is the animal population very high in tropical rainforests?
Because there is lots of dense vegetation which provides food for animals
When animals die their nutrients are passed back to the soil which makes it richer and encourages more vegetation to grow
What are symbiotic relationships?
When plant and animal species depend on each other for survival
What are the effects of deforestation?
Climate change
Increase drought due to less trees intercepting water and releasing it back into the atmosphere
Soil has less protection due to less roots so more nutrients can be washed away
How have trees adapted in tropical rainforests?
Grown taller to compete for sunlight
How have plants adapted in tropical rainforests?
Thick waxy leaves with drip-tips
Encourages run off so weight of the water doesn’t damage plant
No water for bacteria and fungi to grow in
How have climbing plants adapted in tropical rainforests?
Use tree trunks to reach sunlight
How have trees bark adapted in tropical rainforests?
Smooth thin bark because no cold temperatures
Helps water to run off easily