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CGP Biology > Section 8- Ecology and the Environment, P1 > Flashcards

Section 8- Ecology and the Environment, P1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Define Habitat:

A

The place where an organism lives

-e.g. a field

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2
Q

Define Population:

A

All the organisms of one species in a habitat

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3
Q

Define community:

A

All the different species in a habitat

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4
Q

Define ecosystem:

A

All the organisms living in a particular area and all the non-living(abiotic) conditions
-e.g. temperature, climate

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5
Q

What cause changes in the environment?

A
  • abiotic(non-living) and biotic(living) factors
  • the changes affect communities in the different ways (the changes include decrease or increase in population size or change in the distribution of populations)
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6
Q

What are examples of abiotic factors which effect communities?

A

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS-light intensity, moisture level, soil pH
TOXIC CHEMICALS-pesticides can build up in food chains through bioaccumulation, excess fertilisers can cause eutrophication in lakes and ponds leading to death of organisms

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7
Q

Define bioaccumulation:

A

bioaccumulation- at each level of the food chain the concentration of pesticides increases, so organisms at the top receive a fatal dose

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8
Q

What are examples of biotic factors which affect communities?

A

AVAILABILITY OF FOOD
NUMBER OF PREDATORS
COMPETITION-organisms compete with other species(and members of their own species) for resources (such as for plants: light, space, water, minerals;such as for animals: space, shelter, food, water, mates)

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9
Q

Describe a practical of how to use a Quadrat to study the population size of small organisms:

A

To compare the population size of an organism in two sample areas:

  • place a quadrat on the ground at a random point within your first sample area, this will help to make sure the results you get are representative of the whole sample area
  • count all the organisms you’re interested in within the quadrat
  • repeat and work out the mean number of organisms per quadrat within the sample area
  • repeat all the steps above for the second sample area
  • finally compare the two means
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10
Q

What is a quadrat?

A

A quadrat is a square frame enclosing a known area (e.g. 1m)

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11
Q

How do you estimate population size by scaling up from a small sample area?

A

You need to work out the mean number of organisms per 1m^2

Then you just multiply the mean by the total area of the habitat

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12
Q

What do food chains show?

A

Food chains show what is eaten by what in an ecosystem.

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13
Q

What are the levels of a food chain?

A

Producer: make their own food using energy from the sun
Primary consumers: eat producers
Secondary consumers: eat primary consumers
Tertiary consumers: eat secondary consumers
Decomposes: all organisms eventually die and get decomposed by decomposers, decomposers break down dead material and waste

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14
Q

What is each level in a food chain called?

A

Tropic level

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15
Q

Describe a pyramid of numbers:

A

Each bar on the pyramid shows the number of organisms at each stage of the food chain

  • the size of the bar is determined by the number of organisms on that trophic level
  • the bottom layer of the pyramid is the producers then the next layer up is the primary consumers and so on
  • it’s not always a uniform pyramid however
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16
Q

Describe a pyramid of biomass:

A
  • each bar shows the mass of living material at that stage of the food chain
  • biomass pyramids are practically always the right shape for a pyramid
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17
Q

What are pyramids of energy transfer?

A

Pyramids of energy transfer show the energy transferred to each trophic level in a food chain
-pyramids of energy are always the right shape, a regular pyramid

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18
Q

What is transferred along a food chain?

A

Energy is transferred along a food chain.

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19
Q

What are the stages along a food chain?

What are the stages called?

A 
Producer
Primary consumer
Secondary consumer
...
Decomposers

Stages called: trophic levels

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20
Q

Describe a general food chain:

A
  • plants use energy from the sun to photosynthesise
  • not all the energy the energy from one trophic level is passed onto the next (about 90% is lost)
  • only around 10% of the total energy available becomes biomass(stored or used for growth)
  • this is the energy that’s transferred from one trophic level to the next
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21
Q

Where does almost all energy for living things come from?

A

Energy from the sun is the source of nearly all life on earth

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22
Q

How is energy lost in a food chain?

A
  • some parts of food (roots, bones) aren’t eaten by organisms so the energy isn’t taken in, some parts of food are indigestible(fibre) and come out as waste
  • used for staying alive (respiration)
  • energy is eventually transferred to the surrounding as heat
23
Q

Define food web:

A

Food webs show how food chains are linked

-all species in a food web are interdependent, which means if one species changes it affects all the others

24
Q

In an ecosystem what is constantly happening to the materials?

A

Materials are constantly being recycled in an ecosystem

-carbon and nitrogen are recycled through both abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem

25
Q

What does the carbon cycle show?

A

The carbon cycle shows how carbon is recycled.

  • carbon is an element in the material that all living things are made from
  • there’s only a fixed amount of carbon in the world, this means it’s constantly recycled
26
Q

What is the only way carbon is removed from the air in the carbon cycle?

A

Photosynthesis

-green plants use carbon from carbon dioxide in the air to make carbohydrates, proteins and lipids

27
Q

How does carbon get from plants to animals?

A

Eating

-animals eat the plants which passes on the carbon compounds

28
Q

How is carbon dioxide released back into the atmosphere by living things?

A

Respiration

-plants and animals both respire and release carbon dioxide back into the air

29
Q

How is carbon released from plant and animals when they die?

A

Plants and animals eventually die and decompose

-the are decomposed by decomposers (e.g. bacteria and fungi) into useful of carbon compounds

30
Q

How do decomposers break down dead material?

A

Decomposers release enzymes, which catalyse the breakdown of dead material into smaller molecules. Decomposers release carbon dioxide back into the air by respiration as they break down the material.

31
Q

How is the carbon in fossil fuels returned back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide?

A

Combustion (burned)
Some useful plant and animal products (e.g. wood and fossil fuels), are burned which releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere

32
Q

Why is decomposition critical for balance in an ecosystem?

A

Decomposition of materials means that habitats can be maintained for the organisms to live there (e.g. nutrients are returned to the soil and waste material doesn’t just pile up)

33
Q

How is carbon monoxide produced?

A

When fossil fuels are burnt without enough air supply they produce carbon monoxide

34
Q

What are some facts about carbon monoxide?

A
  • it’s a poisonous gas
  • if it combines with haemoglobin in red blood cells, which is an irreversible reaction so oxygen is unable to bind with the haemoglobin
35
Q

What is the main production of carbon monoxide?

A

Carbon monoxide is mainly produced in car emissions

-most modern cars are fitted with catalytic converters that turn carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide

36
Q

What are types of air pollution?

A

Carbon monoxide

Sulphur dioxide

37
Q

How does sulphur dioxide produce acid rain?

A
  • burning fossil fuels releases harmful gases like carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide
  • sulphur dioxide comes from sulphur impurities in the fossil fuels
  • when sulphur dioxide mixes with rain clouds it forms dilute sulphuric acid
  • this then falls as acid rain
38
Q

What are the main causes of sulphur dioxide production?

A

Internal combustion engines in cars and power stations are the main causes of acid rain

39
Q

In what way is acid rain harmful to the environment?

A

Acid rain kills fish and trees

  • acid rain can cause a lake to become more acidic, this has a severe effect on the lake’s ecosystem, many organisms are sensitive to changes in pH and can’t survive in more acidic conditions
  • acid rain kills trees because the acid damages the leaves and releases toxic substances from the soil, making it hard for trees to take up nutrients
40
Q

What is the greenhouse effect?

A

-gases in the earths atmosphere absorb most of the heat that would normally be radiated back out into space and re-radiate it in all directions this is called the greenhouse effect

41
Q

What is the temperature of the earth determined by?

A

The temperature of the earth is a balance between the energy it gets from the sun and the energy it radiates back out into space

42
Q

What are examples of green house gases?

A 
Water vapour 
Carbon dioxide 
Methane
Nitrous oxide
CFCs
43
Q

How are humans causing the enhanced greenhouse effect?

A
  • human beings are increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide
  • because of this the earth is heating up, global warming is a type of climate change, this climate change can cause: extreme weather, rising sea levels, polar ice caps melting
  • all these effects can cause habitat loss, which could effect food webs and crop growth
44
Q

Why do we need the greenhouse effect?

A

If this process didn’t happen, then the earth would get very cold, very quickly at night

45
Q

How do humans produce carbon dioxide?

A
  • car exhausts, industrial processes, burning fossil fuels

- deforestation for timber and to clear land for farming

46
Q

How do humans produce methane?

A
  • naturally produced in - rotting plants in marshland

- man made sources of methane - rice farming and cattle rearing

47
Q

How do humans produce nitrous oxide?

A
  • naturally - bacteria in soils and in the ocean

- human activity- fertilisers, vehicle engines and industry

48
Q

How do humans produce CFCs?

A
  • CFCs are man-made chemicals that were once used in aerosol sprays and fridges
  • most countries have agreed not to produce them anymore because of the effect on the ozone layer
  • but some CFCs still remain and get released (e.g. Leaks from old fridges)
49
Q

What problems can fertilisers cause?

A

Fertilisers can cause eutrophication

50
Q

How can fertilisers cause eutrophication?

A
  • fertilisers cause big problems when they end up in lakes and rivers
  • nitrates and phosphates are put onto fields as mineral fertilisers
  • if too much fertiliser is applied and it rains afterwards, it can be leached into rivers and lakes
  • this cause eutrophication
51
Q

What is eutrophication?

A
  • the extra nutrients cause algae to grow fast and block out the light
  • plants on the water bed can’t photosynthesise due to lack of light and die
  • microorganisms that feed on the dead plants retire and deplete all the oxygen in the water
  • organisms that need the oxygen such as fish die
52
Q

What are the two ways eutrophication can be caused?

A

FERTILISERS

SEWAGE POLLUTION - sewage contains lots of phosphates from detergents, it also contains nitrates from urine and faeces

53
Q

What are positives from deforestation?

A
  • build their own houses or grow crops to feed their families.
  • This is often by large companies who deforest to provide land for cattle, rice fields and growing crops for biofuels.
  • It creates jobs

CGP Biology (19 decks)

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