Science unit 3

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

all the living organisms in an area and their non-living environment

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

all the members of the same species that live in the area

Question 3

Community

Answer 3

population of all different plants/animals living in the same area

Question 4

Biotic

Answer 4

living things in the environment
(animals, plants, etc)

Question 5

Abiotic

Answer 5

non-living factors in the environment (sunlight, wind, chemicals in the soil, etc)

Question 6

Sustainability

Answer 6

the ability to maintain an ecological balance.

Question 7

Trophic level

Answer 7

a feeding level to describe the position of a living thing along a food chain

Question 8

*Atmosphere

Answer 8

-Made up of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and <1% argon, water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other gases
-Acts like a blanket and moderates surface temperatures.
-Blocks solar radiation (UV light)

Question 9

*lithosphere

Answer 9

-Earth’s outer layer,the rocky shell of Earth
-The mountains, ocean floors and rest of Earth’s solid landscape.
-Ranges from 50 to 150 km in thickness

Question 10

*Hydrosphere

Answer 10

-Made up of all the water on Earth:
Solid - glaciers
Liquid – lakes, oceans, etc and groundwater
Gas – clouds, water vapour
-97% of Earth’s water is contained in the oceans.

Question 11

*Biosphere

Answer 11

-The zone around Earth where life can exist within the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere
-Most can be found on land and in water
-Some micro-organisms can live several kms below the earth’s surface
-Can have artificial biospheres

Question 12

*Photosynthesis

Answer 12

-the process in which the Suns energy is converted into chemical energy.
-Formula:
Carbon dioxide+water->sugar+oxygen

Question 13

*Cellular Respiration

Answer 13

-a chemical process in which energy is released from food to provide energy for the cell
-Formula:
sugar+oxygen->carbon dioxide+ water+energy

Question 14

*Food Chain

Answer 14

a step-by-step sequence of who eats who, showing how energy is transferred from one living thing to another

Question 15

*Producer

Answer 15

(the first trophic level)-makes their own food. eg.plants use a chemical called chlorophyll to capture the light energy for photosynthesis.

Question 16

*Consumers

Answer 16

eat other organisms to gain energy
(cannot make their own food.)

Question 17

*Primary consumer

Answer 17

(second trophic level)-an organism that eats producers (e.g. herbivores)

Question 18

*Secondary consumer

Answer 18

(third trophic level)-omnivores/small carnivores

Question 19

*Tertiary consumers

Answer 19

(fourth trophic level)-large carnivores

Question 19

*Biomass

Answer 19

the mass of living organisms in a given area

Question 20

*Food web

Answer 20

Food webs show a highly complex series to interconnecting food chains.

Question 20

*Water cycle

Answer 20

-shows how water takes different forms and moves through the environment
-water evaporates from the surface water(lakes, rivers, oceans), travels to the clouds, falls down again as rain, snow or hail

Question 21

*Transpiration

Answer 21

water moves from the roots to the leaves of plants and the leaves the plant

Question 22

*carbon cycle

Answer 22

-carbon is a component of all living things
-it moves between the biotic and abiotic world, mostly between atmospheric or dissolved CO2 in water and photosynthesizing organisms

Question 23

***Most of Earth’s carbon in not cycled but is stored in. one of three major carbon-rich deposits:

Answer 23

1. Plants
   2.Oceans
   3.Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas)

Question 24

CO2

Answer 24

CO2 is a greenhouse gas and is causing climate change

Question 25

*Nitrogen fixing bacteria

Answer 25

-Nitrogen must be taken from the atmosphere and ‘fixed’ by special soil bacteria in order to be available to the biotic environment.

Question 26

*Limiting Factors

Answer 26

-The factor that restricts the size of population
-can be biotic- availability of food/mates
-can be abiotic- access to water/temperature/sunlight

Question 27

*Competition

Answer 27

two individuals fight for the same resource

Question 28

*predation

Answer 28

on individual feeds off another

Question 29

*mutualism

Answer 29

two individuals benefit from each other

Question 30

*Parasitism

Answer 30

one individual lives in or on, and feeds on another host organism

Question 31

*commensalism

Answer 31

one benefits and the other one neither benefits nor is harmed

Question 32

*carrying capacity

Answer 32

the maximum population of a species that an ecosystem can sustain. it can be altered naturally or by human activity.

Question 33

*Biomes

Answer 33

a large geographical region defined by climate (precipitation & temperature) with a specific set of biotic and abiotic factors

Question 34

*tundra biome

Answer 34

-Canada’s most northern biome
-a cold desert(frozen ground most of the year)
-Short growing season for the plants with low temperatures
-slow decomposition rates and nutrients are cycled slowly
-Barren-ground caribou and polar bear

Question 35

*Boreal Forest Biome

Answer 35

-Largest biome in canada
-rainfall and warm summer support the growth of trees
-Conifers are the dominant trees
-with their needle-like leaves, they can withstand harsh winters
-slow decomposition rate due to the acidic properties of decomposed conifer needles
-The forest floor is covered with shade tolerant and slow-growing plants like mosses and firms

Question 36

*Grassland Biome

Answer 36

-grassland of prairie
-get some rainfall but not enough to support trees
-black earth of grassland is one of the most fertile soils in the world
-high temperature promotes decomposition which cycles nutrients back to the soil
-bison

Question 37

*Temperate Deciduous Forest Biome

Answer 37

-diverse forest made up of maple,oak,ash,ect.
-growing season is longer and decomposition rates are faster
-temperature does not reach extremely low
-ideal for humans
-a lot of plants and animal species live in this biome
-humans have replaced large portions of this biome with farmland, roads, and cities

Question 38

*Mountain Forest Biome

Answer 38

-located in British Columbia and a little bit of Alberta
-Temperature vary with elevation, cool summer, windy
-fast-flowing rivers
-heavy precipitation
-Poor soil quality due to erosion and acidity
-dominant plats are coniferous and trees and ferns
-black and grizzly bears, elk

Question 39

What is a sustainable ecosystem and what can make it not sustainable

Answer 39

a biological environment and a network of habitats that can survive and support themselves without the need for outside help. Human messing around with this can make it a non sustainable ecosystem.

Question 40

where does all of the light on earth come from

Answer 40

the main source of energy is the radiant energy or light energy from the sun

Question 41

Why are there more trees in a forest then animals

Answer 41

the answer depends on the relationship between the species. Each species is influenced and limited by its surroundings and by the resources it requires.

Question 42

what process allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy? Where does this occur? What types of organisms use this process?

Answer 42

Photosynthesis coverts light energy into chemical energy. Producers use this process

Question 43

Why are populations healthy and stable when there is equilibrium?

Answer 43

populations are healthy and stable when there is an equilibrium because every thing is balanced and unaffected as it should be.

Question 44

Ecology

Answer 44

study of life