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biology paper 2 > topic 5 (energy transfer in ecosystems) > Flashcards

topic 5 (energy transfer in ecosystems) Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

what is a producer?

A

organism that makes its own food

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2
Q

what is a consumer?

A

organism that consumes on another organism to obtain its energy, rather than directly using energy from sunlight

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3
Q

what is a primary consumer?

A

organism that directly eats a producer

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4
Q

what is a secondary consumer?

A

organism that eats a primary consumer

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5
Q

what is a tertiary consumer?

A

organism that eats a secondary consumer

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6
Q

what is a saprobiont?

A

decomposer that breaks down complex material in dead organisms into simple matter

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7
Q

what is biomass?

A

the mass of living material

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8
Q

what does a food chain do?

A

describes a feeding relationship where producers are eaten by consumers

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9
Q

what is a stage in a food chain called?

A

trophic level

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10
Q

what does an arrow on a food chain represent?

A

the direction of energy flow

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11
Q

what does a food web represent?

A

how food chains in a habitat link together

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12
Q

how can you estimate the chemical energy stored in biomass?

A

by burning biomass in a calorimeter

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13
Q

what can biomass be measured in terms of?

A

the mass of carbon an organism contains, or the dry mass of its tissue per unit area

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14
Q

what is dry mass?

A

mass of an organism with all the water removed

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15
Q

how can you find the dry mass of an organism?

A

sample of an organism dried in a low temperature oven
weighed at regular intervals
when mass ecomes constant all water has been removed
scale up to total population/area being investigated

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16
Q

how much carbon is present in dry mass?

A

50%

17
Q

how does a calorimeter find the chemical energy given off?

A

sample of dry biomass burnt

energy used to heat a known volume of water

change in temperature of water used to calculate the chemical energy of the dry biomass

18
Q

what is gross primary production?

A

total amount of chemical energy converted from light energy by plants, in a given area

19
Q

how much of the GPP is lost as heat to the environment when plants respire?

A

50%

20
Q

what is respiratory loss?

A

GPP lost to the environment when plants respire

21
Q

what is the net primary production equation?

A

gross primary production - respiratory loss

22
Q

what is net primary production?

A

energy available to the plant for growth and reproduction

energy stored in a plant’s biomass

energy available to organisms at the next stage of the food chain

23
Q

what is primary productivity?

A

total amount of biomass in a given area at a given time

24
Q

where do consumers store chemical energy?

A

in their biomass

25
Q

how do consumers get energy?

A

ingesting plant material, or animals that have eaten plant material

26
Q

how much energy is lost between trophic levels?

A

90%

27
Q

why is energy lost between trophic levels?

A

not all of the organism is consumed
some parts of an organism are lost in faeces if they cannot be digested
some energy lost in excretory materials

28
Q

what is the formula for net production of consumers?

A

net production=

chemical energy ingested in food - (chemical energy lost in faeces/urine/respiration)

29
Q

what is the net production of consumers also called?

A

secondary production/productivity

30
Q

why do most food chains only have 4/5 levels?

A

insufficient energy to support a large enough breeding population at a higher trophic level than this

31
Q

is the mass of organisms higher/lower at a higher trophic level?

A

lower

32
Q

how does the energy available change as you go higher up the food chain?

A

decreases

33
Q

what is the equation for percentage efficency?

A

(energy available after the transfer/ energy available before the transfer) x 100

34
Q

what are two methods farmers use to increase the efficency of energy transfer?

A

reduce the energy lost to other organisms

reduce the energy lost through respiration

35
Q

how can a food web be simplified?

A

by getting rid of pests

36
Q

what are methods of pest control?

A

use chemical pesticides and biological agents

37
Q

how can respiration loss be reduced?

A

keep animals in pens to restrict their movement

keep pens indoors and warm- less energy lost by generating body heat

38
Q

how do pens increase energy conversion rate?

A

movement restricted so less energy used in muscle contraction

environment kept warm to reduce heat loss

feeding controlled so max growth with no waste

predators excluded- no loss in food web

biology paper 2 (23 decks)

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