Study Of Ecosytem Flashcards
How did you collect the fauna from an ecosystem you have studied
Using a pooter - suck organism into jar
How do you identify collected fauna?
Using a key
A quantitive study of a named plant species
Quadrat- count dandelion at each point of quadrat
How do you ensure the sample is random?
Throw quadrat randomly behind you
Why is it essential to use a random sampling technique?
To prevent bias
Suggest abiotic factors that could affect the distribution of named plant species
Temperature - enzymes
Light intensity - photosythesis
PH
State one way human activity can have an impact on your named ecosystem
Pollution
How is it possible for a secondary consumer to be a primary consumer of another chain
It could be an omnivore
Caterpillars have different mouth parts than butterflies, how does this eliminate competition?
Feed on different parts of plant
To carry out a quantitative study, name the method you would employ
Quadrat
Named animal and plant adaption to its habitat
Animal
Lady bird - acid, brightly coloured = warns predators
Hedgehog - spikes
Plants dandelion - long roots
Give 5 plants found in hedgerow
Buttercups, dandelions, daisies, nettles, grasses
Give 5 animals present in hedgerow
Fox, rabbits, earthworms, snails, slugs, spiders ladybirds, blackbirds
What is a qualitative study?
It records the presence or absense of something
What is a quantitative study?
Records the numbers or amounts that are present
Give one example of a possible error in ecological surveying and state how this error can be eliminated
Changing conditions - study ecosystem during different seasons
Non-random - throw behind your back
Miscalculation
Safety hazard in ecosystem studied
Accidental ruin home of animal
Use of beating tray
Shake bushes and it’s for insects
Pitfall trap use
Sink into soil or sand and traps crawling animals
Use of sweep net?
Sweep through grass and it will collect insects
Use of mammal trap
Set trap with bait for mammals
Use of tullgren funnel
Heat from bulb cause small organisms to move down - centipedes
Use of cryptozoic trap
Placed on soil left for some time, over night to collect animals at night or that prefer moist conditions. Slugs, snails
Name a method you would employ for the quantitative study of a species of small herbaceous plant
Quadrat
Name one edaphic factor that could affect the distribution of a herbaceous plant in the ecosystem
PH
Name of ecosystem?
Grassland / hedgerow
Draw a food web from the ecosystem you have studied which contains at least three food chains and four trophic levels
Hawk Badger
Robin
Thrush
Caterpillar Slug
Dock leaves
[page 30 exam papers]Suggest why ecological surveying is important
Detects changes
Monitors biodiversity
What is meant by the term variation?
Differences between organisms of the same species
Give a reason why there might be variation in the height of a mature plant species in the ecosystem
Difference in light levels, altitude or aspect
Name appropriate organisms for pyramid of numbers and indicate which would be most likely to be herbivore Large box Small box Large box Small box [small = big animal]
Parasite
Badger
Slug
Dock leaves
Herbivore- first large box
What is the significance of energy loss at each stage in a food chain in relation to
i) the length of the food chain
ii) the number of organisms at the final trophic level
i) limits length
ii) limits number
If a niche becomes vacant in an ecosystem for a decomposed species, suggest why some other decomposer species may not be able to occupy the vacant niche
May not be suitably adapted
Describe a procedure for estimating rabbit numbers in an ecosystem
Capture-recapture ->
Portion of population is captured using mammal traps and marked. The number is recorded and then released.
Next day, repeat capture procedure and record number captured and number of recaptured [marked]
No.captured day 1 x day 2 / number of animals recaptured
Give two possible effects of an ecosystem of the extinction of a plant species
Decrease in consumer numbers
Increase in numbers of other plants
Soil erosion
Suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of biological control of a pest organism
Advantage - no harmful chemicals used
Disadvantage - possible extinction of species / balance of nature disturbed
How did you investigate light intensity and what is it in ecosystem?
Light meter was used to read the light intensity in different areas. Repeat readings a number of times to find an average
Lower near hedge
How did you investigate the PH and what is it in ecosystem?
Add a few drops of universal indicator to a soil sample on white tile and match resulting colour to the colour chart and read PH
Neutral or slightly basic soil of PH
As part of your study you constructed a pyramid of numbers. Name the species that occupied the top of your pyramid and what is the main prey of the species
Fox
Rabbit
Name one animal from your named ecosystem and describe how you carried out a quantitative study of that animal
Rabbit - capture/recapture
Suggest one way in which marking an animal might endanger it
More conspicuous to predators
Toxic marker
Ecosystems are subject to changes, both natural and artificial. Mention one of each type of change as it applies to your named ecosystem
Natural - Weather such as rain, storms, floods = damage
Artificial - overhunting, fertilisers [man-made]
How did you present the results of your survey? / how did you record results
Bar chart
Graph
[found frequency and recorded info on bar chart]
How did you investigate temperature
Using a thermometer will give the degree of hotness of soil, water or air of an ecosystem.
In ecological studies what is a key?
A guide to identification
