P2 - Ecology

Question 1

What is a habitat ?

Answer 1

The place where an organism lives.

Question 2

What is a population ?

Answer 2

All the organisms of one species living in a habitat.

Question 3

What is a community ?

Answer 3

The populations of different species living in a habitat.

Question 4

What are abiotic factors ?

Answer 4

The non-living factors of the environment.

Question 5

What are biotic factors ?

Answer 5

The living factors of the environment.

Question 6

What is an ecosystem ?

Answer 6

The interactions of a community of living organisms with the non-living parts of their environment.

Question 7

What kind of things do plants compete for from their environment ?

Answer 7

Light and space, and water and mineral ions from the soil.

Question 8

What kind of things might animals compete for from their environment ?

Answer 8

Territory, food, water and mates.

Question 9

What is interdependence ?

Answer 9

Where each species in a community depends on another species for things such as food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal.

Question 10

What is a food web ?

Answer 10

A diagram to represent what eats what in a community.

Question 11

What are stable communities ?

Answer 11

Where all the species and environmental factors are in balance so population sizes are roughly constant - tropical rainforests, ancient oak woodlands etc.

Question 12

What are some examples of abiotic factors in an ecosystem ?

Answer 12

Moisture level, light intensity, temperature, CO2 levels, wind intensity and direction, O2 levels and soil pH and mineral content.

Question 13

What effects could a change in the environment have ?

Answer 13

(Could be an increase/decrease in an abiotic factor or introduction of a new biotic factor) - can affect sizes of population in a community and subsequent population sizes of those that rely on them.

Question 14

What potential biotic factors could affect organisms in an ecosystem ?

Answer 14

New predators arriving, competition, new pathogens, and the availability of food.

Question 15

What different adaptations can an organism go through to live in different environmental conditions ?

Answer 15

Structural, behavioural and functional changes.

Question 16

What does a structural adaptation affect ?

Answer 16

The features of an organisms body structure, like shape or colour.

Question 17

What can behavioural adaptations cause ?

Answer 17

Difference in behaviour - such as migrating to warmer conditions during the winter to avoid problems of living in colder conditions.

Question 18

What are functional adaptations ?

Answer 18

Changes in the things that go on inside the body, related to processes such as reproduction and metabolism.

Question 19

What is special about microorganisms adaptations ?

Answer 19

Because they have a huge variety of adaptations they can live in a wide range of environments.

Question 20

What are extremophiles ?

Answer 20

Microorganisms adapted to live in very extreme conditions, such as high temperature, pressure and salt conditions.

Question 21

What is a food chain ?

Answer 21

A diagram to represent what eats what in an ecosystem.

Question 22

What is biomass ?

Answer 22

The mass of living material.

Question 23

How do food chains start and progress ?

Answer 23

They start with a producer which is then eaten by a primary consumer, which is subsequently eaten by a secondary consumer, and this by a tertiary consumer.

Question 24

What are producers ?

Answer 24

Organisms that make their own food using energy from the sun - usually green plants or algae which make glucose by photosynthesis.

Question 25

How is energy transferred between stages in a food chain ?

Answer 25

When organisms eat other organisms.

Question 26

P

Answer 26

198