Revision Flashcards
1
Q
How does biodiversity (and organisms) impact the health of the planet and everything else?
A
- organisms are the primary source of food, fuels, drugs, shelter, and clothing
- organisms are agents of disease and health
- organisms are the foundation of many cultures and beliefs and of immense aesthetic value
- organisms are a rich source of innovation and discovery
2
Q
Define Evolution:
A
The process by which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth
3
Q
Define Ecology:
A
The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings
4
Q
Define Biogeography:
A
The branch of biology that deals with the geographical distribution of plants and animals
5
Q
Define Biodiversity:
A
The variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is considered to be important and desirable
6
Q
Define Conservation Science:
A
The act of conserving; prevention of injury, decay, waste or loss, also known as preservation science
7
Q
Identify 4 problems that are causing the biodiversity crisis:
A
- Magnitude and scale (including geographical) of the problem
- The rate/speed and direction of the problem
- Breadth of the problem
- The causes for loss/ changes in biodiversity
8
Q
How does the current mass extinction differ from others?
A
The current mass extinction threat differs from others historically because it is most likely caused or influenced by humans
9
Q
What group, in particular, is being threatened in the 6th mass extinction?
A
Vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) feature predominantly in highlighting the biodiversity crisis
10
Q
What are vertebrates particularly useful to humans for?
A
- food, clothing, perfume
- economically important
- cultural/symbolic
- aesthetic value
- evolutionary close ties to humans
11
Q
Define Biological Diversity:
A
The sum of the total life forms on earth. The variety of all living things, the genetic information they contain and the ecosystems they form, which creates the complexity of life on earth
12
Q
What are the 3 recognised levels of Biological Biodiversity?
A
- Species diversity (variety of species)
- Genetic diversity (between populations and individuals)
- Ecosystem diversity
13
Q
Define Species Diversity:
A
Species diversity is the variety of species in an ecosystem or throughout the biosphere or a country. Variety and number of species. Richness is a measure of the number of unique life forms
14
Q
Define Endemism:
A
Species that are confined to a specific geographical region (species found nowhere else)
15
Q
Define Endemic Species:
A
Species often found in geographically isolated areas
16
Q
Define Native Species:
A
Their presence in a geographical region (often a country) is natural and not due to human actions
17
Q
Define Introduced Species:
A
Their presence in a certain geographical region is due to human actions (intentionally or accidental)
18
Q
Define Biodiversity Hotspot:
A
Biogeographic region with significant biodiversity and high endemism, which is under threat
19
Q
What are the 2 criteria which define a biodiversity hotspot?
A
- Must contain at least 1, 500 species of vascular plants (greater than 0.5% of the world’s total) as endemics
- Must have lost at least 70% of its original habitat
20
Q
Define Genetic Diversity:
A
Genetic diversity comprises genetic variation within a population and between population. Genetic diversity varies between individuals and also populations. Genetic variation is the core of biodiversity
21
Q
Define Ecosystem Diversity:
A
Assemblages/ communities of organisms and the biotic and abiotic factors around them
22
Q
Define Ecosystem Function and Services:
A
Ecosystem functions are ecological processes in the environment that regulate/control fluxes of energy, nutrients and organic matter
23
Q
Name and define 2 critical ecosystem services:
A
- Provisioning- production of renewable resources (e.g. food, wood, oxygen)
- Regulating- those services that lessen environmental change (e.g. water/air purification, carbon sequestration, disease control)
24
Q
What is the significance of Biodiversity?
A
Biodiversity boosts ecosystems productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. Greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms
25
How can the unity and diversity in life be explained?
Through EVOLUTION. Modern organisms are modified descendants of common ancestors. Similar traits among organisms are explained by descent from common ancestors. Differences among organisms are explained by the accumulation of heritable changes. NATURAL SELECTION is the overriding mechanism/process
26
List the 11 Key events in Life's History:
1. Origin of Life: prokaryotes
2. Presence of oxygen
3. Eukaryotes
4. Multi-cellularity
5. Animals
6. Primitive vertebrates
7. Colonisation of land: plants and animals
8. Amphibians
9. Reptiles
10. Birds and mammals
11. Humans
27
Give some information about the Age of Prokaryotes:
- prokaryotes dominated the earth for most of its history
- can live under much wider variety of conditions than eukaryotes
- use many different sources of energy and carbon and are often extremophiles
28
Give some information about the Onset of Oxygen:
- early atmosphere had little to no oxygen
- around 2.7 billion years ago oxygen levels started to rise
- cyanobacteria created oxygen in the atmosphere (this is because cyanobacteria are autotrophs and their metabolic waste product is oxygen)
29
Give some information about the Rise of Eukaryotes:
- evolved about 2.5 to 1.8 billion years ago
| - fossils include algae, protists and simple animals
30
Define and outline the Endosymbiont Theory:
-Eukaryotes arose from prokaryotes
-mitochondria and chloroplasts derived from prokayotes
-ingested but not digested
-reproduced along with host cell S
Symbiosis: an ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct contact
31
Give some information about Multicellularity, along with the 5 main advantages of multicellularity:
Advantages:
1. Growing larger protects better against predators
2. Being larger gives you more control over where you live
3. Greater buffering against environmental fluctuations
4. Able to regulate homeostasis more easily
5. Multicellularity allows for entirely new levels of organisation
32
Give some information about the explosion of animals:
- occurred about 530 million years ago
- known as the Cambrian explosion
- groups of most modern animals appear during this time
33
Give some information about the Early Vertebrates:
-dominated by marine organisms (fish)
34
Give some information about the Colonisation of land:
- early life evolved in the sea
- there were challenges to live on land: desiccation (drying), UV radiation, gravity, thermal fluctuations
- Plants needed to evolve the ability to stand upright and transport against gravity
- a waxy coating to conserve water
- a vascular system
35
List the 5 important steps in the evolution of vertebrates:
1. Bone
2. Jaws and paired appendages
3. Limbs
4. Amniotic eggs
5. Placenta
36
Name the 4 broad reasons why biodiversity is important and describe two in detail:
1. Utilitarian values of individual species
2. Ecosystem services
3. Heritage values and national identity
4. Existence and ethical values
37
Describe and give examples of the Utilitarian value of individual species:
-economic contribution or monetary value of individual species or groups
Examples:
ecotourism, koalas, Great barrier reef
38
List the 3 aspects that identify an ANIMAL:
1. Digest food inside the body
2. No cell wall- uses structural proteins
3. Most have muscles and nerves: vital for movement
39
List the 1 aspect that identifies an INVERTEBRATE:
1. Absence of a Notochord
40
List the 3 aspects that identify an ARTHROPOD:
1. Exoskeleton
2. Segmented Body
3. Jointed Appendages
41
List the 5 aspects that characterise the CLASS INSECTA:
1. Chitinous exoskeleton
2. Three part body (head, thorax, abdomen)
3. Three pairs of jointed legs
4. Compound eyes
5. One pair of antennae
42
What are the 4 types of Ecosystem Services?
1. Supporting
2. Provisioning
3. Cultural
4. Regulating
43
Define Provisioning ecosystem services:
Products obtained from ecosystems (e.g. food, wood, oxygen)
44
Define Regulating ecosystem services:
Those that lessen environmental change (e.g. regulation of floods, drought, land degradation, control of disease, purification of water)
45
Outline the Regulation system example of AIR QUALITY CONTROL:
- plants remove pollutants from the air
| - micro-organisms also remove pollutants such as sulphur
46
List the 3 aspects that characterise BACTERIA:
1. Prokaryotic cells
2. Cell walls
3. Cell wall has a specific molecular structure (peptidoglycan)
47
Outline the Regulation system example of WATER REGULATION AND PURIFICATION:
- vegetation and micro-organisms remove pollutants from water
- naturally vegetated watercourses limit flooding
- wetlands purify water
48
Outline the Regulation system example of EROSION CONTROL:
- naturally vegetated watercourses show minimal erosion compared with cleared watercourses
- mangroves and reefs prevent coastal erosion
49
Outline the Regulation system example of DISEASE REGULATION:
-insects, birds and other predators naturally control disease
50
Outline the Regulation system example of PEST REGULATION:
- predation of pest insects by native and introduced animals
- predation of house mice by carnivores
- biological control
51
Outline the Regulation system example of POLLINATION:
-insects, birds and mammals pollinate crops and native plant species that are used by people
52
What makes a plant different from other eukaryotes?
1. Apical meristems (growth zones of roots and stems)
2. Alternation of generations
3. Walled spores (desiccation resistant)
53
What do fungi and plants have in common?
- both have cell walls (but fungi contain chitin instead of cellulose)
- both develop by progressive growth
- both reproduce by sexual and asexual means
- both produce spores
54
What do fungi and animals have in common?
- both can't photosynthesise
| - both digest food outside their cells
55
What are the 2 main reasons why Fungi are ecologically important?
1. they are the main Decomposers
| 2. they are Mutualists
56
Define and outline Photoautotrophs:
energy source= light
carbon source= carbon dioxide
generate their own sugars
57
Define and outline Chemoheterotrophs:
energy source= organic compounds
carbon source= organic compounds
rely and depend on other things for energy supply
58
List the 3 aspects that identify ARCHAEA:
1. Prokaryotic cells
2. Cell membrane structure containing ether-linked lipids (no peptidoglycan)
3. Specific biochemicals used in metabolism
59
What is the BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE of the WATER CYCLE?
- water is essential to all organisms
- its availability influences the rates of ecosystem processes
- influences primary production and decomposition of terrestrial ecosystems in particular
60
What are the FORMS AVAILABLE TO LIFE of the WATER CYCLE?
- all organisms are capable of exchanging water directly with their environment
- liquid water is the primary physical phase in which water is used: though some organisms can harvest water vapour
- freezing of soil water can limit water availability to terrestrial plants
61
What are the RESERVOIRS of the WATER CYCLE?
- the oceans contain 97% of the water in the biosphere
- approximately 2% is bound in glaciers and polar ice caps
- the remaining 1% is in lakes, rivers and groundwater with a negligible amount in the atmosphere
62
What are the KEY PROCESSES of the WATER CYCLE?
- the main processes driving the water cycle are evaporation of liquid water by solar energy, condensation of water vapour into clouds and in precipitation.
- transpiration by terrestrial plants also moves large volumes of water into the atmosphere
- surface and groundwater flow can return water to the oceans, completing the water cycle
63
What criteria define a MASS EXTINCTION?
an event where 75% or more species go extinct within a relatively short time frame
64
List 3 factors that influence mass extinctions:
1. Climate change
2. Pollution
3. Fast-paced environmental change
65
Define Environmental Change:
A change or disturbance of the environment most often caused by human influences and natural ecological processes
66
List 3 examples of environmental change that are causing mass extinction:
1. Pollution
2. Invasive species
3. Loss of habitat through land clearing
67
Define background extinction rate:
- refers to the standard rate of extinction in the earth's geological and biological history before humans became the primary contributor to extinctions
- this is primarily the pre-human extinction rates during periods in between major extinction events
68
Define Adaption and list 4 examples of adaption:
```
-refers to inherited characteristics of organisms that enhance their survival and reproduction in specific environments that has arisen as a result of natural selection
Adaptations:
1. avoid predation
2. foraging/ predating
3. locomotion
4. mating success
```
69
Give examples for the adaption to avoid predation:
- camouflage
- being inedible (poisonous)
- developing defense mechanisms
70
Give examples for the adaption to finding food:
- filter feeders
| - predators
71
Give examples for the adaption of locomotion:
- jumping
- running
- swimming
- flying
72
Give examples for the adaption of mating success:
- mating rituals
| - dramatic colouring
73
What is natural selection?
-the process by which individuals that have certain heritable traits have enhanced fitness because of those traits
74
List 3 ways that life has recently adapted to environmental changes:
1. Fast-paced adaption
2. Adapting specifically to humans
3. Being in the right place at the right time
75
Give 2 examples of Fast-Paced adaption:
1. Tawny-Owl: adapting their colours to respond to environmental changes in amount of snow in winter
2. Kilifish: -due to an increased level in a common organic chemical toxin called PCB- creating a problem
- resistant kilifish turned off their detox genes to remove toxins
- this is because PCB fighting pathways (detox genes) do lots of other things in the body
- resistant fish turned off the gene that fights the PCB
- the shutdown of the PCB-fighting gene compromises the fish as a whole; however, better compromised than dead
76
Give 3 examples of Adapting specifically to humans:
1. Possums
2. Ibises
3. Cod
77
What are the 4 stages of extinction?
1. Starting off- gradual change in environment/conditions
2. Extinction event- more than 75% of life disappears
3. Recovery- ecological niches are re-filled, organisms re-adapt to the environment/conditions
4. Stabilisation- process known as convergent evolution
78
Define Convergent Evolution and give some examples:
-occurs when two or more unrelated species become more similar to one another because they adapt to similar conditions of natural selection
e.g.
Thylacines (Tasmanian Tiger) and Dingos
79
How many previous mass extinctions have there been?
5
80
What is the Mass Extinction event you have decided to Study in Detail?
The Permo-Triassic Mass extinction
| -the 3rd Mass extinction
81
List the base facts (when, causes, extent) of the Permo-triassic extinction:
When: 250 million years ago
Causes: Apocalyptic climate change: carbon dioxide based runaway, greenhouse effect raises temperature by over 6 degrees celcius, volcanic activity acidifies the oceans, lowers oxygen levels
Extent: 96% of species
82
What was life like before the Permo-Triassic mass extinction? (top predators, herbivores, missing)
Top Predators: synapsids (relatives of mammals), crocodile-like phytosaurs
Herbivores: Synapsids
Missing: Dinosaurs, mammals
83
What was life like after the Permo-Triassic mass extinction? (top predators, herbivores, convergent replacement)
Top Predators: Crocodile relatives
Herbivores: one type of synapsid (Lystrosaurus), also some crocodiles and early dinosaurs
Convergent Replacement:
Carnivorous crocodiles replaced carnivorous synapsids
84
What 4 factors would you use to define a Species?
1. Groups that are reproductively isolated
2. Fertile offspring
3. Genetically stable
4. Similar genetic and morphological (phenotypic) traits
85
Define phenotype and genotype:
Phenotype: an organism's appearance or observable traits
Genotype: an organism's genetic makeup
86
Define the Biological Species Concept:
A species is considered 'members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring. By this definition, speciation relies on Reproductive Isolation.
87
Define the Reproductive Isolation:
The existence of biological factors (barriers) that impede members of two species from interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring
88
Give examples of Pre-fertilisation mechanisms of Reproductive Isolation:
- geographical
- habitat (e.g. sea vs land)
- timing (e.g. day/night, seasonal)
- behaviour (e.g. mating rituals)
- mechanical (e.g. non-compatible genitalia)
- gametes (e.g. non-compatible gametes)
89
Give examples of Post-fertilisation mechanisms of Reproductive Isolation:
- reduced hybrid viability
- reduced hybrid fertility
- hybrid breakdown- when two hybrids are crossed and reproduction doesn't work
90
List two problems with the Biological species concept:
1. Asexual reproduction
| 2. The species being no longer alive
91
Define the Morphological Species Concept:
Identifies species by body shape and other structural features (used heavily in palaeontology)
92
List some Pros of the Morphological Species Concept:
- applicable to asexual and sexual organisms
- do not need to know gene flow or life history
- applicable in field and collection situations
- can be used on fossils
- knowledge of behaviours or ecology not required
93
List some Cons of the Morphological Species Concept:
-relies on subjective criteria- differences in opinion
94
Define the Phylogenetic Species Concept:
The smallest group of individuals to share a common ancestor, forming one branch on the tree of life
95
List some Pros of the Phylogenetic Species Concept:
-accurately reflects process of evolution
-relies on morphological and genetic information
(genotype plus phenotype)
96
List some Cons of the Phylogenetic Species Concept:
- what if a close relative is extinct
- comprehensive information usually not available and is expensive to maintain
- based on opinions
97
What is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species?
global assessments of species, subspecies, varieties and geographically separate subpopulations
98
Define and outline each subcriteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
```
Critically Endangered (CR)
-considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild
```
Endangered (EN)
-considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild
Vulnerable (VU)
-considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild
Least Risk (LR)
- widespread and abundant taxa
- three sub-categories
1. conservation dependent (cd)
2. Near Threatened (nt)
3. Least Concern (lc)
```
Data Deficient (DD)
-inadequate information to make an assessment of its risk of extinction
```
99
What are the Environmental Impact Assessments?
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a procedure for assessing the impact on the environment likely to result from development. Primarily a scientific technique existing in a legal framework
100
What is a Federal EIA?
Federal EIA's use the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act (EPBC), containing environmental legislation and species list
101
What are the 3 sections assessed within an EIA?
Single species- just one species can seriously stall a development
Species richness- more species means higher biodiversity rating
Species composition- some ecological communities are endangered and require protection
--Endangered ecological communities (EEC)
102
Outline how biodiversity works:
- arises by adaption through natural selection
- the mechanism through which biodiversity is created is Mutations
- mutations are rarely beneficial but if they are they are strongly selected for
- beneficial mutations spread into the population through sexual reproduction, allowing a mixing of different gene versions (alleles)
103
Define phylogenetics:
the study of genetic and morphological relationships among groups of organisms
104
Define Convergence:
- the process whereby organisms not closely related, independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches
105
Define homologous:
-having similar structure and anatomical position, but not necessarily the same function, in different organisms suggesting a common ancestry or evolutionary origin
106
Define Phenotypic plasticity:
-the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment
107
What 3 options do organisms have with regards to phenotypic plasticity?
1. Tolerate- no change
2. Evolve- change in DNA of a population over time, happens over many generations, a slower change
3. Modify physiology or behaviour- doesn't require change of DNA, happens to individuals within their lifetime, a fast change
108
Outline Physiological Changes:
- through functions of living organisms and their parts, including all physical and chemical processes
- changes in the physical environment affect physiological processes in organisms
109
Define ectotherm:
- cannot regulate their own body temperature through physiological means
- when its cold, the organism freezes, when its hot the organism is cooked
- e.g. reptiles
110
Define endotherm:
- can regulate own body temperature
- have a set internal body temperature (homeostasis)
- physiological limits of endotherms include; operating at wider temperature ranges with a lot of physiological cooling mechanisms
- e.g. mammals, birds
111
Define Acclimation:
-a gradual process by which an organism adjusts its physiology or morphology to changes in its external environment to maintain performance
112
Outline Behavioural Changes:
-altering action and activity of an organism to adjust to the changing environment
113
Outline Phenological Changes:
-through the influence of climate on annual phenomena of animal and plant life such as reproduction and migrations
114
Define Phenological mismatch:
-when climate change messes up prey and predatory relationships
115
Give 1 limitation of Physiological plasticity:
-offspring can't inherit these changes, limits what an individual can do
116
Give 1 limitation of Behavioural plasticity:
-morphology, harmful behaviours, physical incapability
117
Give 1 limitation of Phenological plasticity:
-effects other organisms that depend on the phenologically changed organisms
