Science Test: Ecology Flashcards
1
Q
What is Ecology?
A
The study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.
2
Q
An Abiotic factor is…
A
Non-living
3
Q
A Biotic factor is…
A
Living
4
Q
What is the Biosphere
A
The world-wide sum of all ecosystems: water, land, air. All of life itself.
5
Q
What is the Atmosphere?
A
All the layers of gases (air) around Earth that surround us.
6
Q
What is the Hydrosphere?
A
All the water on Earth’s surface.
7
Q
What is the Lithosphere?
A
All the land on Earth.
8
Q
What are the 6 Ecological Levels of Organization?
A
Biosphere, Biome, Ecosystem, Community, Population, Species
9
Q
What is a Biome?
A
A large naturally occurring community of common characteristics.
10
Q
What is an Ecosystem?
A
A community of living organisms that interact with each other in a specific place.
11
Q
What is a Community?
A
A group of two or more populations from different species in the same area.
12
Q
What is a Population?
A
A group of individuals that belong to the same space and live in the same area.
13
Q
What is a Species?
A
A group of living organisms that share common characteristics and are classified as alike in some manner.
14
Q
What are the 5 Major Biomes in Canada?
A
- Tundra
- Temperate Rainforest (Temperate Coniferous Forest)
- Boreal Forest
- Grassland
- Temperate Deciduous Forest
15
Q
A Marine Biome is…
A
found in our oceans, and has a high salt concentration
16
Q
A Freshwater Biome is…
A
very low salt concentration
vary in their nutrient content, temperature, and depth
3 categories: 1. rivers and streams, 2. lakes and ponds, 3. wetlands
17
Q
What is a Habitat?
A
The environment in which an organism lives, their “address.”
18
Q
What is a Niche?
A
An organism’s niche is it’s totally way of life, their “occupation”
19
Q
What is a Food Chain?
A
A simple and direct illustration that shows the energy flow at each trophic (feeding) level.
20
Q
What is a Food Web?
A
A way of illustrating the complexity of the energy transfer when more organisms are involved.
21
Q
Primary Producer
A
Produce their own food (autotrophs)
22
Q
Primary Consumer
A
Eat autotrophs (primary producers)
23
Q
Secondary Consumer
A
Eat the primary consumers
24
Q
Tertiary/Top Consumer
A
Eat the secondary consumers
25
Producers/Autotrophs
Use energy from sunlight to make glucose
26
Consumers/Heterotrophs
Don’t make their own food, consume other organisms to live
27
Herbivores
Eat only plants aka other producers
28
Carnivores
Eat only meat aka other consumers
29
Omnivores
Eat both plants and animals
30
Decomposers
Absorb any dead material and break it down onto simple nutrients or fertilizers
31
Detritivores/Scavengers
Feed on the tissue of dead organisms (both plants and animals)
32
Ecological Pyramids
A geographic model that illustrates the amount of energy available at each trophic level in a food chain.
Can be represented as:
Biomass (total mass of organisms at each level in a food chain is shown)
Numbers (number of individuals at each trophic level is shown)
Energy (the amount of energy available at each trophic level is shown)
33
Cellular Respiration
The process in which chemical energy is released from food (glucose)
34
Photosynthesis
Getting the sun’s energy into a useable form, the process of converting light energy, water, and carbon dioxide into glucose (food) and oxygen
35
The products of photosynthesis are the ... of cellular respiration
Reactants
36
The products of cellular respiration are the ... of photosynthesis
Reactants
37
What is the importance of Nutrient Cycles?
They allow the movement of nutrients to rough the biotic and abiotic parts of the environment
- this allows nutrients to be continuously consumed, rearranged, stored, and used
38
Carbon Cycle
Released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned & respiration
Used in photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates
Plants eaten by animals
Carbon Dioxide is in decaying matter
39
Water Cycle
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Evaporation & Transpiration
Condensation
Precipitation
Runoff
Seepage
```
40
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen fixation: the process of converting atmospheric nitrogen gas into a useable form
Nitrification: the oxidation of the ammonium compounds in dead organic material into nitrites and nitrates
Assimilation: the process by which plants and animals incorporate the nitrates - and ammonia
Ammonification: incorporation of ammonia and nitrates into biological tissues
Denitrification: the chemical reduction of soil nitrates or nitrites by denitrifying bacteria
41
Why is it important that nitrogen is useable?
Because if it isn’t useable it can’t be absorbed into food chains or webs.
42
Limiting Factors
Any factor that restricts the size of a population or where it can live, can be abiotic and biotic.
43
Abiotic Limiting Factors
- Space
- Oxygen levels in aquatic environment
- Temperature
44
Biotic Limiting Factors
- Disease
- Predation
- Competition
45
Tolerance Range
Range of abiotic conditions (environmental conditions) within which a species can survive and reproduce.
Many different abiotic factors influence where species can live, some species have a wide tolerance ranges and some have narrow tolerance ranges.
46
Competition
Interactions between two or more organisms competing for the same resource in a given habitat. Intraspecific = same species, Interspecific = different species
47
Predation
When one organism eats another organism to obtain food
48
Disease
When harmful bacteria, viruses and fungus drastically affect the size of a population
49
Symbiosis
A close interaction between two different species in which members of one species live in, on, or near members of another species.
50
Parasitism
One species benefits and the expense of the other.
51
Mutualism
Both species benefit
52
Commensalism
One species benefits without nor harm or benefit to the other
53
Carrying Capacity
The number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem can support.
54
Predator Prey Relationship Graphing
When the number of prey increases in an ecosystem the number of predators will too.
55
Ecosystem Services
Services provided by ecosystems that cannot be obtained any other way.
56
What are examples of Ecosystem Services?
- Food
- Fuel
- Natural resources
- Water
- Cycle nutrients
- Decompose waste
- Regulate climate
- Provide cultural and recreational opportunities
- Organisms with ecosystems pollinate crops and disperse seeds
57
Why are Ecosystem Services critical?
These are critical because human well-being depends upon ecosystem structure and function.
58
Three Types of Biodiversity
Genetic
Species
Diversity
59
Genetic
Variation within species genetic makeup
60
Species
Number of individual species
61
Ecosystem
Variety of ecosystems
62
5 Major Causes of Biodiversity
- Habitat Change & Fragmentation
- Overexploitation
- Pollution
- Invasive Species
- Climate Change
63
Habitat Change
When humans alter a habitat so that native species can no longer live there.
64
Fragmentation
When a small area of land within a larger ecosystem is cleared for human purposes creating a patchwork of altered and original/native habitats.
65
Urban Sprawl
The unplanned, disorganized growth of urban and suburban development into surrounding countryside as people build new homes and new businesses near the edge of a city or town.
66
Smart Growth
Smart and sustainable urban and suburban development, planning development that is oriented around public transit, creating people centred healthy communities, persevering open and natural spaces, intensification of filling in existing areas.
67
Overexploitation
The overuse of resources to the point where they cannot be replaced at a fast enough rate (population sizes decrease)
This is by people for food, clothing, pets, medicine, sport, and more.
68
Overfishing
Industrialized fishing had been a huge problem since the 1950s, humans have removed a large pertained of fish from our seas.
69
Overhunting
Animals are hunted for sport, food, pet trades, fur, horns and antlers, medicine, education, skins and shells, eggs, meat.
70
Clearcutting
When commercial logging companies remove all the trees in an area.
71
Slash and Burn
A widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any demanding vegetation burned.
72
Unsustainable Use of Water
Fresh water is a precious resource but it is often unsustainably overused.
73
What is Soil?
Soil is a mixture of minerals, water, air spaces, and organic matter.
74
Why is it important to keep nutrient cycling occurring?
It’s important to keep nutrient cycling occurring because they ensure there’s always plenty of nutrients available for wombats to consume.
75
Natural Fertilizers
These have been obtained from natural sources (manure) and have not been chemically altered by humans
76
Synthetic
Are manufactured hashing chemical processes
77
Fertilizer Dependance
Over fertilized soils can lose their supply of natural occurring nutrients, creating a dependency on synthetic fertilizers.
78
Nitrate Groundwater Pollution
Fertilizers have serious impacts of groundwater when they get leached info the soil which occurs when nutrients become dissolved in water and deep out of the soil. Occurs because if acid precipitation.
79
Cultural Eutrophication
When fertilizers from farm fields and lawns enter aquatic ecosystems, nutrients act like fertilizers for aquatic plants and algae. Creating “Algae Bloom” which blocks sunlight from reaching submerged aquatic plants that grow at deeper depths causing them to die off. The increased decomposition causes bacteria to use up oxygen in the water instead of fish, killing them off of the oxygen levels get low enough.
80
Pests
Organisms that might compete with or damage crop species or lawns.
81
Pesticides
A substance used to kill a pest.
82
Broad-spectrum
Are effective against many types of pests.
83
Narrow-spectrum
Are effective against only a few pests.
84
Pest Resistance
When pesticides are used for long periods of time some pest species may become resistant to the pesticide and pass on the resistance to their offspring. Leading to excessive pesticides being used without any benefits.
85
Bioaccumulation
The accumulation of toxic substances, such as pesticides, or other chemicals in the tissues of an organism.
86
Biomagnification
The increasing concentration of a toxic substance in the tissue of organisms at successfully higher levels in a food chain.
87
Damage to Non-Target Species
Pesticides often kill species that were not intended to be killed.
88
Long-Range Transport
Pesticides do not stay in one place they can be transported over large distances.
89
Point Source
A pollutant that enters water a species place from an identifiable source
90
No Point Source
A pollutant that enters a body of water indirectly when water from rain or snow travels over land and picks up pollutants from many different sources before entering a stream or lake.
91
Biological Indicator Species
Species that can tell us about the levels of pollution in an area of water.
92
Cultural Eutrophication
When fertilizers from farm fields and lawns enter aquatic ecosystems, nutrients act like fertilizers for aquatic plants and algae. Creating “Algae Bloom” which blocks sunlight from reaching submerged aquatic plants that grow at deeper depths causing them to die off. The increased decomposition causes bacteria to use up oxygen in the water instead of fish, killing them off of the oxygen levels get low enough.
93
What is Solid Waste?
Non-biodegradable substances coming from a variety of sources - households, industries, etc.
94
What is the Problem with Littering?
Litter will contaminate ecosystems, harm marine life, and release nasty chemicals.
95
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
A gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean.
96
What is PH?
A scale used to measure how acidic it basic something is.
97
How can the PH or soil and water affect organisms?
Acid precipitation can cause changes in the PH of soil and water - some organisms cannot tolerate these changes and will die off
Acid soil does not hold nutrients well
98
What are the major kinds of Air Pollution?
- Nitrogen oxides
- Sulphur oxides
- Containing substances
- Ground level ozone
- Particulate matter (smoke fumes)
- Carbon dioxide
- Methane.
99
Formation of Acid Rain
Once in the air, the pollutants (sulphur oxides & nitrogen oxides) combine with water vapour to form acids.
100
Smog
Yellowish or blackish fog containing a mixture of various gases with dust and water vapour caused by ground level ozone.
101
Native Species
Have originated in their location naturally and without human involvement.
102
Invasive Species
Introduced species with growing populations that spread and have a negative effect on their environment.
103
What are the 4 Main Ways Invasive Species cause Harm to Ecosystems
- Ecological damage by displacing native species
- Economic damage because of clean up costs and the loss of ecological services and damage to property
- Damage to the tourism industry as ecosystems become degraded and less desirable as a tourist destination
- Negative effects in human health as some invasive species carry diseases (i.e. West Nile Virus found in mosquitoes)
104
What are the 3 Ways to Control Invasive Species?
Mechanical
Chemical
Biological
105
Mechanical Control
The use of a physical barrier or the physical removal of the species.
106
Chemical Control
The most widely used method is the use of pesticides.
107
Biological Control
Using intentionally introduced organisms to control the invasive species.
108
Extirpated
A species that no longer exists in Ontario but still occurs elsewhere.
109
Endangered
A species that faces extinction or extirpation.
110
Threatened
A species that is at risk of becoming endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.
111
Special Concern
A species with characteristics that make it sensitive to human activities or natural events.
112
Ex-situ conservation
Protect at-risk species in human-made environments (i.e. zoos, aquarian’s)
113
In-situ conservation
Protect species in their native habitats
114
Endangered Species Act
Passed in 2007 in Ontario, protects at-risk species and their habitats, made it illegal to damage or destroy ecosystems that species depend on, individuals or groups that ignore the law can be liable for repairing any damage they cause.
115
Ecological Footprint
A tool/model used to estimate how much land, water, and other resources (what and how much you consume) are needed to support a person’s lifestyle
116
How can you be an environmental steward?
Take care of natural recourses to ensure that they are used in sustainable ways for current and future generations.
```
Reduce - the amount of recourse we use
Reuse/Repurpose - items instead of throwing things away
Recycling - used items
Conserving - ecosystems
Restoring - damaged ecosystems
```
117
Crop Rotation
Rotates different crops so that the pest has nothing to feed on and the population size decreases.
118
Soil Conservation
Methods that protect the soil from erosion and loss of nutrients
119
Organic Farming
Farming that does not permit the use of fertilizers or pesticides.
120
Forestry Stewardship Council certified
Meets the guidelines for sustainable forestry practices.
121
LEED Certification
Building has bern certified as being built in a sustainable way. (LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
122
Consumer Demand
Businesses respond to consumer demands and will create products that are sustainable/environmentally friendly.
123
What can you do to lessen your ecological footprint
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Reduce emissions
Save energy
Eat food produced locally
Plant wisely
But wisely
Get involved
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124
How do clear cutting and slash and burn deforestation methods increase greenhouse gas concentrations?
By reducing forest cover we decrease the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed, too much carbon dioxide leads to a warmer atmosphere.
Slash and burn also releases a large amount of carbon dioxide because if the burning aspect.
125
Not-Native
Not typically found in an area.
126
What health problems do nitrates cause?
They disrupt the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.
127
What is Environmental Stewardship?
Managing resources today so that we have some for tomorrow (future)
