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Master Separate Science - Biology > Separate Biology - 4.7 > Flashcards

Separate Biology - 4.7 Flashcards

1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) with the non-living (abiotic) parts of the environment

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2
Q

What do organisms need to survive and reproduce?

A

A supply of materials from their surroundings and from other living organisms.

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3
Q

What do plants compete for?

A
  • Light and space
  • Water and mineral ions from the soil
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4
Q

What do animals compete for?

A
  • Food
  • Mates
  • Territory
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5
Q

Within a community what does each species depend on other species for?

A

Food, shelter, pollinations, seed dispersal etc…

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6
Q

What happens if one species is removed from a community?

A

The whole community can be affected (known as interdependence)

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7
Q

What is a stable community?

A

One where all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that population size remains fairly constant

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8
Q

List abiotic (non-living) factors which can affect a community

A
  • Light intensity
  • Temperature
  • Moisture levels
  • Soil pH and mineral content
  • Wind intensity and direction
  • CO2 levels for plants
  • O2 levels of aquatic animals
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9
Q

List biotic (living) factors which can affect a community

A
  • Availability of food
  • New predators arriving
  • New pathogens
  • One species outcompeting another (so numbers are no longer sufficient to breed)
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10
Q

What are adaptations?

A

Features of an organism enabling it to survive in the conditions in which it normally lives

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11
Q

How can adaptations be characterised?

A
  • Structural
  • Behavioural
  • Functional
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12
Q

What are extremophiles and what examples of habitat may they live in?

A

Organisms which live in habitats which are extreme e.g. high temperature, pressure or salt concentration

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13
Q

Bacteria living in deep sea vents would be classified as what?

A

Extremophiles

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14
Q

For life on Earth, what are the producers of biomass?

A

Photosynthetic organisms

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15
Q

How can feeding relationships in a community be represented?

A

In a food web.

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16
Q

Describe a simple food chain.

A

Producers are eaten by primary consumers, which in turn may be eaten by secondary consumers and then tertiary consumers.

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17
Q

What are predators?

A

Consumers that kill and eat other animals

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18
Q

What are prey?

A

Animals eaten by consumers

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19
Q

In a stable community, what may happen to the numbers of predators and prey?

A

It may rise and fall in cycles

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20
Q

What happens to all materials in the living world?

A

They are recycled to provide the building blocks for future organisms

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21
Q

What does the carbon cycle return to the atmosphere?

A

Carbon dioxide - which is then used by plants for photosynthesis.

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22
Q

What does the water cycle provide

A

Fresh water for plants and animals on land, before draining into the seas (water is continuously evaporated and precipitated)

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23
Q

What role do microorganisms provide in an ecosystem?

A

They cycle materials through an ecosystem by returning carbon to the atmosphere and mineral ions to the soil

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24
Q

Separate Q. What can affect the rate of biological decay?

A

Temperature, water and the availability of oxygen

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25
Separate Q. What do gardeners and farmers try to provide to aid the decay of waste biological materials?
Optimum conditions (e.g warm, moist and good oxygen supply) for rapid decay.
26
Separate Q. How is compost from waste biological materials used?
As a natural fertiliser
27
Separate Q. What does anaerobic decay produce?
Methane gas
28
Separate Q. What can the product of anaerobic decay be used for?
Biogas generators can be used to produce methane as a gas for fuel
29
Separate Higher Q. What can affect the distribution of species in an ecosystem?
Environmental changes
30
Separate Higher Q. What environmental changes can affect the distribution of a species in an ecosystem?
* Temperature * Availability of water * Composition of atmospheric gases
31
Separate Higher Q. What environmental changes can occur?
* Seasonal * Geographic * Human interaction
32
What is biodiversity?
The variety of all the different species of organisms on Earth (or within an ecosystem)
33
What does a great biodiversity ensure?
The stability of ecosystems by reducing the dependence of one species on another for food, shelter and the maintenance of the physical environment
34
What can impact biodiversity?
Waste, deforestation and global warming
35
How are most human activities impacting biodiversity?
Human activities are reducing biodiversity (impacting the future of the human species)
36
What does rapid growth in human population and increasing living standards lead to?
More resources are used and more waste produced (including pollution when not handled properly)
37
Where can pollution occur?
* Water (sewage, fertilisers or toxic chemicals) * Air (smoke and acidic gases) * Land (landfill and toxic chemicals)
38
What can pollution cause?
A reduction in biodiversity as plants and animals can be killed
39
What are humans doing to the amount of land available for other organisms?
Reducing the available land: building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste
40
What problems are associated with peat bog destruction (for use as garden compost)?
This habitat is reduced and thus the variety of different plant, animal and microorganisms (biodiversity) which live there
41
What does the decay or burning of peat cause?
Carbon dioxide to be released: links to global warming
42
Why has large scale deforestation in tropical areas occurred?
To provide land for cattle and rice fields / growing crops for biofuels
43
What gases are contributing to global warming?
Carbon dioxide and methane
44
What programmes are in place to reduce the negative effects of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity?
* Breeding programmes for endangered species * Protection / regeneration of rare habitats * Reintroduction of field margins * Reduction of deforestation and CO2 emissions * Recycling resources rather
45
Separate Q. What can trophic levels be represented by?
Numbers (starting at 1 with plants and algae) with further trophic levels numbered subsequently according to the food chain
46
Separate Q. In a trophic level, what is number 1?
Plants and algae (producers making their own food)
47
Separate Q. In a trophic level, what is number 2?
Primary consumers (herbivores)
48
Separate Q. In a trophic level, what is number 3?
Secondary consumers (carnivores)
49
Separate Q. In a trophic level, what is number 4?
Tertiary consumers (carnivores eating other carnivores)
50
Separate Q. What is an apex predator?
Carnivores with no predators
51
Separate Q. What do decomposers do?
Break down dead plant and animal matter (enzyme secretion into the environment with soluble food molecules diffusing into the microorganism)
52
Separate Q. Draw an example of a pyramid of biomass
53
Separate Q. What are most producers and how much incident energy do they transfer?
Plants and algae, transferring about 1% incident energy via photosynthesis
54
Separate Q. How much biomass from each trophic level is transferred to the level above and why?
About 10% - losses as not all ingested material is absorbed / faeces egestion / waste (CO2, H2O, urine)
55
Separate Q. What is used in large amounts during respiration?
Glucose
56
Separate Q. What is food security?
Having enough food to feed a population
57
Separate Q. What biological factors are threatening food security?
* Increasing birth rate * Changing diets * New pests and pathogens * Environmental changes (famine) * Cost of agricultural inputs * Conflicts
58
Separate Q. How can the efficiency of food production be improved?
Restricting the energy transfer from food animals to the environment (limit their movement / control surrounding temperatures)
59
Separate Q. How can animal growth be increased?
High protein foods
60
Separate Q. What is happening to fish stocks in the ocean?
They are declining
61
Separate Q. How can fish stocks be maintained?
Control of net size / fishing quotas
62
Separate Q. How can growing human population demand be met?
Biotechnical / agricultural solutions such as GM crops
63
Separate Q. What can modern biotechnology techniques allow for?
Large quantities of microorganisms to be cultured for food
64
Separate Q. What is Fusarium?
A fungus useful for producing mycoprotein (a protein-rich food suitable for vegetarians)
65
Separate Q. How is Fusarium produced?
It is grown on glucose syrup in aerobic conditions – the biomass is harvested and purified
66
Separate Q. How can human insulin be produced aiding diabetic individuals?
A genetically modified bacterium
67
Separate Q. What is golden rice?
A GM crop which could provide more food / food with improved nutritional value

Master Separate Science - Biology (7 decks)

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