SB9- Ecosystems And Material Cycles Flashcards
What do organisms need to stay alive
Resources
What do plants need to stay alive
Space, light, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, warmth and mineral ions
What do animals need to stay alive
Oxygen , food and water - may also need shelter
Organisms are continually interacting with eachothwr and their environments
How big can eco system be
Large - such as a rainforest or small such as a pond
How is a community formed
All the organisms that live and interact in an eco system form a community
What is a community made up of
Populations of different species - each population lives in a particular habitat within an eco system
What is interdependence
When species depend on eachother for a resource
What does a habitat for one species also include
Other organisms that affect the population and the local environment
What is abundance
A measure of how common something is in an area - such as population size
What does a quadrat enable us to do
Estimate the population size by taking samples using a quadrat
How is a quadrat used
They are randomly placed in an area - number of individuals in each quadrat is counted
How do you calculate the population size using a quadrat - equation
Population size = number of organisms in all quadrats x (total size where organism lives / total area of quadrats)
What does a food web show
The feeding relationships between the organisms in a community - we can use them to help predict what will happen if there are changes in the eco system
What’s the order in a food web?
Producer, primary consumer (herbivore) , secondary consumer (carnivore /predator) , tertiary consumer (carnivore /predator) , top predator
Does the amount of energy received from the sun on the earth vary?
Yes!! It’s affects both the physical conditions and how much life there is in each region
How much energy is captured from the sun by photosynthesis
3 x 10^20 j of energy transferred by light from the sun
What is most of the energy transferred to from the sun
Biomass (the mass of tissues) - the rest is transferred to environment by heating during processes such as respiration - this energy can’t be used so these transfers are less useful for living things
What are trophic levels
Feeding levels on a food chain
Energy flow through the biotic components of an eco system
How do energy levels change in a food chain
A primary cconsumer takes in energy stored by plant biomass - some is stored in the consumer, some energy transferred by heating and som remains in plant biomass in faeces, urine, this energy is not available to predator so predator gets a lot less energy
What does a Sankey diagram show
Shows the energy transfers in an organism