Organisation In An Ecosystem Flashcards
What is biomass?
Photosynthetic organisms that synthesise molecules are the producers of
What are primary consumers?
Herbivores that eat producers
What are secondary consumers?
Carnivores that eat primary consumers
What are tertiary consumers?
Carnivores that eat secondary consumers
What are predators and prey?
Consumers that kill and eat each other are predators
Those that are eaten are prey
Apex predators are carnivores with no predators
What is a food web?
Shows complex feeding relationships
What is a trophic level?
Number of steps an organism is from the start of its food chain
What is a pyramid of biomass?
Represent the relative amount of biomass at each trophic level of a food chain
What is biomass?
The amount of living or dead biological matter in an are. Biomass is transferred to the trophic level above it in a food chain.
What percentage of incident light energy used for photosynthesis to produce biomass do produces transfer?
1
How much biomass is transferred between each trophic level?
10%
What causes the loss of biomass moving up the food chain?
Respiration, and other life processes
Not all the matter eaten is digested
Some absorbed material is lost as waste
Energy is used in movement
What is the water cycle?
Evaporation
Transpiration and respiration
Condensation
Cooling
Precipitation
Percolation (water trickles through gaps in soil and rocks)
What is decomposition?
Bacteria and fungi breakdown dead plant, and animal matter by secreting enzymes into the environment. The small soluble food molecules produced then diffuse into the decomposer.
These materials are cycled through an ecosystem by decomposers and return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and mineral ions in the soil.
What are the optimum conditions for decomposition?
Warm
Moist
Oxygen
Neutral pH
What is done with the compost produced from decay?
Used as natural fertiliser
What does anaerobic decay produce?
Methane gas. Biogas generators use anaerobic decay to produce methane for use as a fuel
What is the impact of environmental change?
Temp - migration away from equator
Water availability - migration away from areas affected by drought
Atmospheric gases - climate change and acid rain
Why is decay important?
Recycling
Sewage treatment
Compost heaps
Fertilisers
What is biogas?
Flammable mixture of gases from anaerobic breakdown of plant material or animal waste. Composition carries but mainly methane. Changes depending on what put in and bacteria used.
