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Ecosystems > Nature Of Ecocststems > Flashcards

Nature Of Ecocststems Flashcards

1
Q

Define an ecosystem

A

A living system of plants and animals which interact with the physical environment

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2
Q

Main points of an ecosystem

A
  • self regulating
  • where living things interact
  • can be considered at any scale
  • like any other system with inputs and outputs
  • open system- energy and living matter can enter and leave
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3
Q

Define a biome

A

An ecosystem on a global scale, with a climax community of plants and animals which has reached equibrium with its environment

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4
Q

What does biotic mean

A

The living environment

  • vegetation
  • mammals, insects, birds and microorganism
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5
Q

What does abiotic mean

A

The non-living, chemical and physical components

  • soil characteristics
  • underlying parent rock
  • relief of the land
  • drainage characteristics
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6
Q

What are the inputs of an ecosystem

A
  • most important is energy from the sun- this drives photosynthesis and enables plants to grow
  • animals that arrive from other places
  • water
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7
Q

What are the outputs

A
  • nutrients- from animals moving, water
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8
Q

What are the flows within a ecosystem

A

Within a ecosystem nutrients can be transferred from one store to another
- from the soil to the vegetation through capillary uptake by plant roots

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9
Q

What are the stores in a ecosystem

A
  • vegetation
  • plant litter
  • soil
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10
Q

What is the word for the different levels in a energy flow diagram

A

Trophic level

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11
Q

What are the trophic levels

A

1) producers- autotrophs- plants
2) primary consumers- herbivores
3) secondary consumers- carnivores
4) tertiary consumers- top predators

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12
Q

What happens during photosynthesis

A
  • plants capture the Suns light energy
  • use this to make carbohydrates from carbon Dioxide and water
  • increase their biomass
  • less than 4% of the Suns light is captured
  • more than half of this energy is lost by heat
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13
Q

What does each trophic level feed on

A
  • primary consumers feed on plants and insects birds
  • secondary consumers feed on the herbivores
  • top predictors feed on everything
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14
Q

What are energy transfers

A
  • can be illustrated by a pyramid diagram
  • some of the energy contained is available as food for the next level
  • each layer from the bottom up decreases in size because around 90% of the energy contained within is lost through life processes
  • only 10% is available for the next level
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15
Q

An energy pyramid

A
  • 90% energy lost- respiration, movement and excretion
  • majority of energy goes to the decomposes
  • detritivores and decomposes operate at each level
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16
Q

What is a detritivores

A
  • is an animal that feeds on dead material or waste products
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17
Q

What is a decomposers

A
  • an organism that breaks down dead plants , animals and waste matter
  • fungi and bacteria
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18
Q

Nutrient cycle

What are nutrients

A
  • the chemical elements and compounds needed for organisms to grow and function
19
Q

Nutrients cycle

What are the three compartments stores

A
  • soil
  • litter
  • biomass
20
Q

Define soil

A

A mixture of weathered rock, air, water and decomposed organic matter on the surface of the earth

21
Q

Define litter

A

The amount of dead organic matter on top of the soil

22
Q

Define biomass

A

The total of plant and animal life in an ecosystem

23
Q

What is the diagram in the nutrient cycle

A

Gersmehl diagram

24
Q

What are the three biomes for the nutrients cycle

A
  • tropical rainforest
  • tropical grasslands
  • temperate deciduous woodlands
25
Q

Tropical rainforest cycle

Describe the biomass store and explain why

A
  • growth is rapid so the biomass store is huge

- the equatorial climate Is ideal for plant growth

26
Q

Tropical rainforest cycle

Describe the litter circle and why it’s like that

A
  • when litter falls it is broken down quickly in the hot and humid conditions
  • litter store is very small
27
Q

Tropical rainforests

Describe the soil circle and explain why

A
  • soil is little

- any nutrients in the soil is taken up quickly by plant growth

28
Q

Tropical rainforest cycle

Other factors (leaching…)

A
  • heavy rainfall means that nutrients can also be leached out of the soil and carried away
  • so if the forest cover is destroyed by burning, most of the nutrients is lost from the ecosystem
  • soil soon becomes infertile
29
Q

Temperate deciduous woodlands

Biomass store

A
  • Fewer nutrients stored in vegetation than rainforest

- the forest cover is neither so dense or as high as the rainforest

30
Q

Temperate deciduous woodland

Litter layer

A
  • autumn leaf decays fairly slowly in the lowest temperatures
  • litter layer is large
31
Q

Temperate deciduous woodlands

Soil stores

A
  • nutrients from litter layer is then carried down by decomposers (worms)
  • so the soil store is still quite important and still pretty big
32
Q

Savanna grasslands cycle

Biomass

A
  • much less biomass
  • grasses die back in the dry season
  • no possibility of huge accumulation like in the rainforest
33
Q

Savanna grasslands cycle

Litter layer

A
  • the dead grass roots more slowly because the area lacks moisture to speed up decomposers
  • grasses are really tough as well
  • proportion of litter layer is higher than in the rainforest
34
Q

Savanna grasslands cycle

Soil

A
  • plant growth is seasonal and does not occur all year round
  • greater accumulation of nutrients in the soil than in the rainforest
35
Q

Nitrogen cycle

What if is and the cycle

A
  • nitrogen is necessary for the construction of plant and animal matter
  • present in the atmosphere and can be fixed in the soil by some plants
  • taken up by the roots of other plants and passes around the ecosystem
  • then returned to the soil by the decomposition
  • this cycle can operate over land or over sea or In the atmosphere
36
Q

Nitrogen cycle

What are the possible inputs and out puts

A

Inputs- volcanic eruptions

Outputs- loss to deep sea sediment

37
Q

Carbon cycle

What are the concerns

A
  • recent years there has been a growing concern that human activity is disrupting the carbon cycle
  • over millions of years large amounts of carbon have been extracted from the environment and sorted In The ground as coal oil and gas
38
Q

Carbon cycle

What is carbon stored as

A
  • coal, oil and gas

- temporary stores- plants animals and the soil

39
Q

Carbon cycle

What is releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide

A
  • burning of fossil fuels

- destruction of forests

40
Q

Carbon cycle

Why is it bad that carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere

A
  • carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is believed to be responsible for global warming and climate change
41
Q

Food chains

Define

A

Shows the flow of energy through an ecosystem

42
Q

Food chains main points

A
  • four flows because of the four levels
  • each link feeds on and obtains energy from the preceding link and in turn is consumed by and provides energy for the following link
  • illustrates how trophic levels work
  • most are interconnected
  • consume a varied diet which results in a complex food web
43
Q

Example of a food chain

A

Grass –> grasshopper –> frog –> heron

Ecosystems (5 decks)

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