Organising an ecosystem

Question 1

What is the order in a food chain

Answer 1

Producer
Primary consumers - herbivores
Secondary consumers - carnivores
Tertiary consumers

Question 2

What is a producer

Answer 2

Organism that makes its own food usually by photosynthesis

Question 3

What is a food chain

Answer 3

Representation of the feeding relationships within a community

Question 4

What is a consumer

Answer 4

Organism that eats other organism for food

Question 5

What is a herbivore

Answer 5

Organism that only eats producers (plants/algae)

Question 6

What is a predator

Answer 6

Organism that kills and eats other organisms

Question 7

What is a prey organism

Answer 7

Organism that is killed and eaten by another organism

Question 8

What is an apex predator

Answer 8

Carnivore with no predators

Question 9

What is the tropic levels of an organism

Answer 9

The number of steps it is from the start of its food chain

Question 10

What does the pyramid of biomass represent

Answer 10

Relative amount of biomass at each tropic level of a food chain

Question 11

What proportion of biomass is transferred from each tropic level to the one above

Answer 11

Approx 10%

Question 12

Why is biomass lost between tropic levels

Answer 12

Respiration

Not all matter eaten is digested some is removed as waste products

Some absorbed materials is lost as waste

Energy is used in moment

Energy is used to keep animals warm

Question 13

What is the carbon cycle

Answer 13

Process that returns carbon from organisms to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide which can then be used by plants

Question 14

Explain processes that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

Answer 14

Factories burning fossil fuels

Decay and decomposition of microorganisms as they respire

Respiration in humans and animals

Question 15

Explain processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Answer 15

Dissolved into water and oceans

Photosynthesis in green plants

Question 16

What is the water cycle

Answer 16

Process that provides fresh water for plants and animals on land before draining into seas and rivers

Question 17

What is condensation

Answer 17

As moist air rises it cools. Water vapour condenses back into liquid water droplets producing clouds

Question 18

What is precipitation

Answer 18

As water droplets in clouds get heavier they fall as rain, snow and hail

Question 19

What is evaporation

Answer 19

Water turning from a liquid to a gas when heated

Question 20

What is a transpiration

Answer 20

Water movement through a plant and it’s evaporation from the leaves of stem

Question 21

What is percolation in the water cycle?

Answer 21

Water trickling through gaps in soils and rocks

Question 22

What is a decomposer

Answer 22

Organism that breaks down dead plant and animal matter

Question 23

What are two examples of a decomposer?

Answer 23

Fungi
Bacteria

Question 24

What is the role of decomposition

Answer 24

Returns carbon to the atmosphere and mineral ions to the soil from dead matter

Question 25

What factors affect the rate of decay by decomposers

Answer 25

Oxygen levels
Moisture levels
Temperature
pH

Question 26

What can compost produced from decay be used for

Answer 26

Fertilised for growing garden plants or crops

Question 27

What type of decomposition happens when there is a lack of oxygen

Answer 27

Anaerobic decomposition

Question 28

What gas does anaerobic decay release and how can this gas be used for

Answer 28

Methane

Used as a fuel

Question 29

What environmental factors affect the distribution of a species in ecosystems

Answer 29

Temperature - warming temps lead to migration

Availability of water - during droughts animals have to move away

Composition of atmospheric gases -

Question 30

Describe the methods for the decay practical

Answer 30

5cm cubed of milk and 7 cm cubed of sodium carbonate in test tube

Add indicator phenolphthalein which will turn pink - alkali

5 cm cubed of lipase in test tube

Place both test tubes in water bath with thermometer start at 20 degrees

Use pipette to transfer 1cm cubed of lipase into milk solution

Start timer

When solution returns white stop timer - solution is now acidic

Question 31

Why does the milk solution become acidic after lipase is added in the decay practical

Answer 31

Lipase enzyme breaks down fat molecules into fatty acids and glycerol

Fatty acids turn solution acidic

Question 32

What is the independent variable

Answer 32

What you change

Question 33

What is the dependent variable

Answer 33

What you measure

Question 34

What is the control variable

Answer 34

What is kept constant