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GCSE Biology > P2: Ecology > Flashcards

P2: Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

Define ecosystem

A

A habitat and all the organisms that live and interact in it.

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2
Q

Define community

A

All of the populations of different species living together in the same habitat.

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3
Q

Define population

A

All the organisms of the same species living together in the same habitat.

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4
Q

Define interdependence

A

Where if one species in a community is removed, the whole community can be affected.

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5
Q

Define biotic factor

A

A factor relating to the living parts of an ecosystem.

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6
Q

Is a new pathogen a biotic or abiotic factor?

A

Biotic

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6
Q

Give examples of biotic factors.

A

-Food availability
-New predators
-New pathogens and viruses
-Competition between species

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7
Q

Define an abiotic factor.

A

A factor relating to the non-living parts of an ecosystem.

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8
Q

Give examples of abiotic factors.

A

-Light intensity
-Temperature
-Moisture
-Soil conditions (eg pH, mineral content)
-Wind conditions (eg intensity, direction)
-Carbon Dioxide levels
-Oxygen levels

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9
Q

What do animals of the same species compete for?

A

Food, territory and mates

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10
Q

What are the 3 different types of adaptations?

A

Structural, behavioural and functional.

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10
Q

What do plants compete with eachother for?

A

Water, light, mineral ions from the soil.

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11
Q

What is an adaptation?

A

A specialised feature that allows an organism to survive in their specific environment

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12
Q

What is a structural adaptation?

A

A physical adaptation, for example a turtle’s hard shell.

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13
Q

What is a functional adaptation?

A

An adaptation that affects the way an organism’s body works (eg snakes producing venom)

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14
Q

What is a behavioural adaptation?

A

An adaptation that affects the way an organism acts.

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15
Q

What is an extremophile?

A

An organism that lives in an extreme environment (for example very hot climate, high salt concentration, high pressure)

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15
Q

What is an advantage of living in an extreme environment?

A

There is less competition from other organisms.

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16
Q

What type of organism is on the first trophic level?

A

Producers

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17
Q

What type of levels can you divide an ecosystem into?

A

Trophic levels

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18
Q

What type of organism is in the top trophic level?

A

Apex predator.

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19
Q

What do decomposers do?

A

Break down dead plant and animal matter. A key part of the ecosystem.

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20
Q

What are decomposers typically?

A

Microorganisms, like bacteria and fungi.

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21
Q

What is biomass?

A

The amount of living tissue in an organism.

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21
Q

How do decomposers break down dead plants and animals?

A

Secrete enzymes onto the dead matter. Enzymes break it down into smaller molecules, decomposers absorb the dead matter by diffusion.

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22
Q

As trophic levels increase, what happens to biomass?

A

It decreases.

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23
Q

What percentage of biomass at one trophic levels gets transferred to the next?

A

10%

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24
Q

Where is biomass lost?

A

-Any that isn’t absorbed is egested as faeces.
-Biomass is often lost as waste.
-Lost when organisms respire. (For movement and staying warm)
-Lost in urine.

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24
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of all species on Earth or within an ecosystem.

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25
Q

What does the area of each bar in the pyramid of trophic levels show you?

A

How much biomass is in that trophic level.

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26
Q

Which human activities reduce Earth’s biodiversity?

A

Waste production, deforestation and burning fossil fuels.

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27
Q

What are humans doing to protect biodiversity?

A

-Breeding programmes for endangered species
-Making conservation areas out of rare habitats
-Encouraging farmers to add hedgerows and field margins to their fields.
-Recycling
-Reducing deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions

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27
Q

What is a quadrat?

A

A square frame with an area that’s easy to calculate.

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28
Q

What is the name of the square frame used when calculating the population in an area?

A

A quadrat.

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29
Q

How do you use a quadrat?

A

Randomly place it in an area you are studying, and count the number of specific organisms inside that quadrat. Repeat multiple times to find the mean of organisms per m^2

30
Q

What is a transect?

A

A line following a gradient of changing conditions.

31
Q

What is a transect used for?

A

Showing how a species’ abundance changes with different abiotic conditions.

32
Q

If the population of predators and prey constantly fluctuates (in sync with eachother), is it a stable community?

A

Yes, because they are interlinked.

33
Q

What population decreases first, the predator or the prey?

A

Prey, because they are being killed by the predator. As prey population decreases, there is more competition for food and so more deaths in predators.

34
Q

What factors affect food security?

A

-Rising human population
-New pests and pathogens
-Environmental changes
-Costs of environmental inputs
-Conflicts

34
Q

What is food security?

A

Having enough food to feed a population.

35
Q

Why is intensive farming done?

A

So that more of an animal’s energy can go towards growing and producing milk or eggs. So less energy is lost regulating temperatures and moving.

35
Q

What is intensive farming?

A

Giving animals limited space to move, to reduce biomass lost. Involves controlling temperature.

36
Q

What are the cons of intensive farming?

A

-Keeping animals in small cages is cruel
-Many argue keeping animals in these conditions leads to aggression
-Keeping animals this close together allows diseases to spread more easily

36
Q

How do scientists use genetic engineering to increase food security?

A

Creating genetically modified crops with a higher yield.

37
Q

What are fish stocks?

A

The number of fish in the ocean.

38
Q

Why are fish stocks declining?

A

Over-fishing.

39
Q

How do sailors fish sustainably?

A

-Increasing the size of holes in nets, to allow younger fish to swim away
-Using fishing quotas to limit the number of fish that boats are allowed to catch

40
Q

Why are people producing more waste? (Two reasons)

A

-Living standards are rising across the world
-The human population is growing rapidly

41
Q

What is pollution?

A

The harmful effect of releasing waste and chemical materials into the environment

42
Q

How does pollution occur?

A

When waste and chemical materials are not properly managed.
-Dumping waste in landfill pollutes the soil
-Toxic chemicals released from factories pollutes the soil
-Toxic chemicals, sewage and fertilisers pollutes the water
-Burning fuel pollutes the air

42
Q

What does pollution do? (The negative impact)

A

Kills plants and animals, reducing biodiversity.

43
Q

What gas causes acid rain?

A

Sulfur dioxide.

43
Q

How do fertilisers kill aquatic life?

A

-Fertilisers run-off from land into water
-The sea plants and algae show rapid growth
-Algae “blooms”. Algal bloom prevents sunlight from reaching the plants. Oxygen levels fall in the water.
-Decomposition rate increases. Aerobic decomposition further reduces oxygen levels.
-Fish have no oxygen, as plants don’t photosynthesise and decomposers use the oxygen.
-Organisms die.

44
Q

How does burning kill life?

A

-Burning produces smoke
-Air pollution like that kills plants and animals.

45
Q

How does waste pollute land?

A

-Waste is dumped out into landfills.
-So less space for animals to live, destruction of habitats
-Sometimes toxic chemicals are dumped into the soil, killing plants and animals.

46
Q

What do humans use land for?

A

Buildings, quarries, factories, airports, farms, dumping waste.

47
Q

What is good about peat bogs?

A

Contain large amounts of dead plant materials. Decay is very slow in these, so they contain large amounts of carbon.

48
Q

What are peat bogs being destroyed and used for?

A

Producing cheap compost for gardens and farms.

49
Q

What do some countries use peat for?

A

They burn it to release energy to generate electricity.

50
Q

What are the problems with extracting peat?

A

Destroys habitats, large amounts of CO2 are released once it starts to decay quickly.

51
Q

What happens to water during transportation in the water cycle?

A

Water within clouds can be blown many miles by strong winds and so transported to other areas.

51
Q

What happens to water during condensation in the water cycle?

A

After evaporation water can cool and convert from gas to liquid, often forming clouds.

51
Q

How does Carbon enter the atmosphere in the Carbon cycle?

A

-As Carbon Dioxide from respiration and combustion

52
Q

What happens to water during evaporation in the water cycle?

A

Water turns from a liquid to a gas. Energy from the Sun can evaporate water from all places on the Earth’s surface such as puddles, ponds, lakes and oceans.

52
Q

How is Carbon from the atmosphere taken in, in the Carbon cycle?

A

-Absorbed by producers in photosynthesis
-Producers eaten by animals
-Animals consumed by decomposers or fossilised

53
Q

What happens to water during surface runoff in the water cycle?

A

Much water will be absorbed into the ground after precipitation but if a large volume falls or the ground is already wet some water can run along the surface of the ground.

53
Q

What happens to water during precipitation in the water cycle?

A

Precipitation occurs when rain, snow, hail and sleet fall from the sky.

54
Q

What happens to water during infiltration in the water cycle?

A

Water is absorbed into the ground. This can then be stored within underground rocks called aquifers.

54
Q

What happens to water during transpiration in the water cycle?

A

Plants need to maintain a constant stream of water to their roots for transport and support. So they allow some water to evaporate as water vapour from their leaves to mean that more is continually ‘pulled’ to their leaves from the soil.

54
Q

What is a novel food?

A

A food that does not have a significant history of consumption in a region.

55
Q

How is fungus prepared to make mycoprotein?

A

-Fungus is grown in large containers called fermenters.
-Inside the fermenter, the temperature is controlled by a water jacket that surrounds the whole fermenter.
-Sterile oxygen is added to make sure that aerobic respiration occurs
-A food source like glucose syrup is added
-The mixture inside is stirred to make sure all the oxygen and nutrients are equally distributed
-The fungus is harvested and purified

56
Q

What is the benefit of producing protein from fungus instead of meat from livestock?

A

Much more efficient

57
Q

Why does our population increase?

A

-Better health care
-New medicines are being developed so people don’t die of previously fatal diseases
-Farmers are able to produce more food using new breeds and equipment

58
Q

What are the consequences of global warming?

A

-Melting of the polar ice caps
-The rise in sea level in major cities
-Weather patterns will change with more unusual weather
-Animals will migrate towards the poles to find habitats with suitable temperatures
-Tropical disease may become more widespread

59
Q

How does temperature affect the rate of decay? (Not to do with enzymes)

A

At colder temperatures, rate of decomposition is lower. This is because decomposing organisms will be less active, and molecules will move slower.

60
Q

How does water affect the rate of decomposition?

A

Water is essential for decomposition, because decomposers feed on water. Without water, reactions cannot occur

61
Q

How does oxygen affect the rate of decomposition?

A

Without oxygen, there is little to no decomposition. This is because oxygen is needed for many decomposers to respire.

62
Q

Why do gardeners and farmers try to provide optimum conditions for rapid decay?

A

Because the compost produced is used as a natural fertiliser for growing garden plants or crops.

63
Q

What are the products of anaerobic decay?

A

Methane and Carbon Dioxide

64
Q

What are biogas generators?

A

Large vessels in which animal waste or specially grown crops are allowed to anaerobically digest.

64
Q

Describe how carbon and nitrogen in compounds in the leaves are recycled and used by living trees.

A

Microorganisms decompose the dead leaves from the old trees. They break up the leaves and release the nutrients and carbon into the environment. The new leaves photosynthesise and use the Carbon that was broken down in respiration to make glucose which is used to make new cells.

65
Q

Describe the method for investigating the effect of temperature on the rate of decay of fresh milk by measuring pH change.

A

-Place 20cm^3 of fresh milk into 3 beakers.
-Decide the 3 temperatures you will investigate.
-Use universal indicator solution to determine the pH of the milk in the 3 beakers
-Cover each beaker in cling film and incubate at the appropriate temperature
-Use universal indicator solution to determine the pH of the milk in the 3 beakers after 24, 48 and 72 hours.

66
Q

Explain why pH changes quicker when the temperature is higher during decay.

A

In higher temperatures, enzymes are more active, meaning the lipids are broken down quicker, and more fatty acids are produced quicker, which changes the pH to a lower one.

67
Q

What are the products of decay?

A

Carbon Dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts.

GCSE Biology (8 decks)

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