Population Dynamics + Ecological Niches + Predicting Consequences Based on Changes to Ecosystems

Question 1

What is the biosphere?

Answer 1

the part of Earth that contains living things

Question 2

What does biotic mean?

Answer 2

living things

Question 3

What does abiotic mean?

Answer 3

non-living things

Question 4

What are examples of abiotic factors?

Answer 4

physical and chemical factors in the environment such as air temperature, humidity, sunlight and rainfall

Question 5

What is an environment?

Answer 5

all the abiotic and biotic factors that effect an ecosystem combined

Question 6

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 6

a lot of different species of organisms living together within the same environment

Question 7

What is a population?

Answer 7

a group of organisms of the same species living together in the same area at the same time

Question 8

What can the abiotic factors of an environment affect?

Answer 8

the abundance and distribution of living things depending on the species needs

Question 9

What is ecology?

Answer 9

• the study of the relationships and effects of organisms on each other and the environment and the effects of abiotic factors in the environment

Question 10

With an example, how are abiotic factors distributed in an ecosystem?

Answer 10

• Abiotic factors are not always evenly distributed throughout an ecosystem. - For example the abiotic factor of sunlight. In an ocean ecosystem, the deeper you are, the dimmer the sunlight. The surface layer, the

Question 11

What is the photic zone?

Answer 11

The surface area of the ocean with the most light

Question 12

How does the distribution of the abiotic factor of sunlight affect an ocean ecosystem?

Answer 12

• Photosynthetic phytoplankton use photosynthesis to turn sunlight into chemical energy.
• They are the main producers of the ocean and provide food for other organisms.
• phytoplankton survival depends on the distribution of sunlight because they need sunlight to survive.
• Beyond depths of 200m, sunlight cannot penetrate
• so photosynthesis is impossible in this area and so photosynthetic phytoplankton cannot survive in this area

Question 13

How does the distribution of the abiotic factors of temperature and oxygen affect an ocean ecosystem?

Answer 13

• ## temperature drops rapidly the deeper you go in the ocean (because of less sunlight)

Question 14

How do oxygen levels change as you go deeper in the ocean and why?

Answer 14

Oxygen levels decrease to a minimum at 1000m. Then they increase again the deeper you go because of the deeper, cold water mixing with highly oxygenated ocean currents coming from the polar regions

Question 15

Why does the ocean food chain split into two groups?

Answer 15

because of differences in the abiotic factors in the surface and deep ocean layers

Question 16

What are the two groups that make up the ocean food chain?

Answer 16

Superficial pelagic communities of free swimming and floating organisms
and Benthic communities of deep-ocean organisms