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Biology > Topic 7 - Ecology > Flashcards

Topic 7 - Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

The interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) with the nonliving (abiotic) parts of their environment

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2
Q

Define biotic

A

Living organisms

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3
Q

Define abiotic

A

Nonliving

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4
Q

What do organisms require in order to survive and reproduce?

A

Supply of materials from their surroundings and from the other living organisms there

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5
Q

What do plants in a community or habitat often compete for?

A

Light and space, water and mineral ions from the soil

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6
Q

What do animals in a community or habitat often compete for?

A

Food, mates and territory

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7
Q

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

A

Food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal

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8
Q

What is interdependence?

A

If one species is removed from a community, it can affect the whole community

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9
Q

What is a stable community?

A

Where all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that population sizes remain fairly constant

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10
Q

What are the abiotic factors which can affect a community?

A
  • light intensity
  • temperature
  • moisture levels
  • soil pH and mineral content
  • wind intensity and direction
  • carbon dioxide levels for plants
  • oxygen levels for aquatic animals
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11
Q

What are the biotic factors that can affect a community?

A
  • food availability
  • new predators
  • new pathogens
  • one species outcompeting another so the numbers are no longer sufficient to breed
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12
Q

What are adaptations?

A

Features that allow organisms to survive in the conditions which the normally live

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13
Q

What are the three types of adaptation?

A
  • structural
  • behavioural
  • functional
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14
Q

Give examples of extreme environments.

A
  • high temperature
  • high pressure
  • high salt concentration
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15
Q

What are extremophiles?

A

Organisms that live in extreme environments

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16
Q

Give an example of an extremophile.

A

Bacteria living in deep sea vents

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17
Q

How can feeding relationships within a community be shown?

A

Food chains

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18
Q

What do all food chains start with?

A

A producer which synthesises molecules - usually a green plant or alga which makes glucose by photosynthesis

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19
Q

What are experimental methods using transects and quadrants used for?

A

Used by ecologists to determine the distribution and abundance of species in an ecosystem

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20
Q

What are producers eaten by?

A

Primary consumers

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21
Q

What are primary consumers eaten by?

A

Secondary consumers

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22
Q

What are secondary consumers eaten by?

A

Tertiary consumers

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23
Q

What is a predator?

A

Consumers that kill and eat other animals

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24
Q

What is prey?

A

Animals that are eaten by predators

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25
Q

What happens to the numbers of predators and prey in a stable community?

A

They rise and fall in cycles

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26
Q

Why are all materials in the living world recycled?

A

To provide building blocks for future organisms

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27
Q

What does the carbon cycle do?

A

It returns carbon from organisms to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide to be used by plants in photosynthesis

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28
Q

What does the water cycle do?

A

It provides freshwater for plants and animals on land before draining it into the seas through continuous evaporation and precipitation

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29
Q

What affects the rate of decay?

A

Temperature, water and availability of oxygen

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30
Q

What do you gardeners and farmers try to provide optimum conditions for?

A

Rapid decay of waste biological material

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31
Q

What is the compost produced by decay used for?

A

And natural fertiliser for growing garden plants or crops

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32
Q

What does anaerobic decay produce?

A

Anaerobic decay produces methane gas

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33
Q

What can be used to produce methane gas as a fuel?

A

Biogas generators

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34
Q

How does temperature affect the rate of decay?

A

Warmer temperatures make things decompose quicker because they increased the rate that the enzymes involved in decomposition work at

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35
Q

How does oxygen availability affect the rate of decay?

A

Many organisms need oxygen to respire which they need to do to survive but the micro organisms involved in anaerobic decay don’t need oxygen

36
Q

How does water availability affect the rate of decay?

A

Decay takes place faster in moist environment because the organisms involved in decay need water to carry out biological processes

37
Q

What are the environmental changes that affect the distribution of species in an ecosystem?

A

Temperature, availability of water and composition of atmospheric gases

38
Q

What are the three types of environmental changes that affect the distribution of species in an ecosystem?

A

Seasonal, geographic or caused by human interaction

39
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

Variety of all the different species of organisms on Earth or within an ecosystem

40
Q

How does a good biodiversity ensure the stability of ecosystems?

A

By reducing the dependence of one species or another for food, shelter and the maintenance of the physical environment

41
Q

What does the future of the human species on earth rely on?

A

Us maintaining a good level of biodiversity, as many human activities are reducing biodiversity and only recently measures have been taken to try to stop this reduction

42
Q

What has rapid growth in the human population and an increase in the standard of living lead to?

A

Increasingly more resources are used and more waste is produced

43
Q

Unless waste and chemical materials are properly handled, what will happen?

A

More pollution will be caused

44
Q

Where can pollution occur?

A

Water, air or land

45
Q

How is pollution created in water?

A

From sewage, fertiliser or toxic chemicals

46
Q

What pollution is in the air?

A

From smoke and acidic gases

47
Q

What causes pollution on land?

A

From landfill and from toxic chemicals

48
Q

How does pollution affect living organisms?

A

Pollution kills plants and animals which can reduce biodiversity

49
Q

How do humans reduce the amount of land available for other animals and plants?

A

By building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste

50
Q

What reduces the area of the habitat?

A

The destruction of peat bogs, and other areas of peat to produce garden compost

51
Q

What does reducing the area of a habitat also reduce?

A

The variety of different plant, animal and microorganisms species that live there (by diversity)

52
Q

What does the decay or burning of peat release?

A

Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

53
Q

What has large-scale deforestation in tropical areas occurred for?

A
  • To provide land for cattle and ricefields

- to grow crops for biofuels

54
Q

What contributes to global warming?

A

Levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are increasing

55
Q

What are the biological consequences of global warming?

A
  • Higher temperatures causing ice to melt and flooding
  • change to the distribution of wild animal and plant species as temperature changes
  • changes in migration patterns
  • biodiversity could be reduced
56
Q

What have scientists and concerned citizens put programs in place for?

A

To reduce the negative effects of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity

57
Q

What are the programs that scientists and concerned citizens have put in place to reduce the negative affects of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity?

A
  • breeding programs for endangered species
  • protection and regeneration of rare habitats
  • reintroduction of field margins and hedgerows in agricultural areas where farmers grow only one type of crop
  • reduction of deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions by some governments
  • recycling resources rather than dumping waste in landfill
58
Q

How can trophic levels be represented?

A

By numbers starting at level one with plants and algae

59
Q

How are further trophic levels numbered?

A

Subsequently according to how far the organism is along the food chain

60
Q

What is trophic level 1?

A

Plants and algae make their own food and are called producers

61
Q

What is trophic level two?

A

Herbivores eat plants or algae and are called primary consumers

62
Q

What is trophic level three?

A

Carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers

63
Q

What is trophic level four?

A

Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers

64
Q

What is apex predator?

A

Carnivores with no predators

65
Q

What do decomposes do?

A

Decomposers break down dead plant and animal matter by secreting enzymes into the environment, small soluble food molecules then diffuse into the microorganism

66
Q

What are pyramids of biomass?

A

They are diagrams that are constructed to represent the relative amount of biomass in each level of a food chain

67
Q

What is the bottom level of a pyramid of biomass?

A

Trophic level one

68
Q

How much energy does a producer transfer to the primary consumer?

A

About 1% of the incident energy from light for photosynthesis

69
Q

How much of the biomass from each trophic level is transferred to the level above it?

A

About 10%

70
Q

What are losses of biomass due to?

A
  • not all the ingested material is absorbed, some is egested as faeces
  • some absorbed material is lost as waste, such as carbon dioxide and water in respiration and water and urea in urine
71
Q

What is used in large amounts during respiration?

A

Large amounts of glucose are used in respiration

72
Q

How do you calculate efficiency of biomass transfer?

A

Efficiency = biomass transferred to next level / biomass available at previous level x 100

73
Q

What is food security?

A

Having enough food to feed a population

74
Q

What are the biological factors that are threatening food security?

A
  • The increasing birthrate
  • changing diet in developed countries mean scarce food resources are transported around the world
  • New pests and pathogens that affect farming
  • environmental changes that affect food production, such as widespread famine
  • The cost of agricultural inputs
  • conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world which affect the availability of food or water
75
Q

What must be done in order to feed all people on earth?

A

Sustainable methods must be found

76
Q

How can the efficiency of food production be improved?

A

By restricting energy transfer from food animals to the environment

77
Q

How do you restrict energy transfer from food animals to the environment?

A

By limiting their movement and controlling the temperature of their surroundings

78
Q

Why are some animals fed high-protein foods?

A

To increase growth

79
Q

Why is it important to maintain fish stocks at a level where breeding continues?

A

Fish stocks in the oceans are declining and certain species may disappear altogether in some areas

80
Q

How do we conserve fish stocks at a sustainable level?

A

Controlling the sizes of nets and introducing fishing quotas

81
Q

What do modern biotechnology techniques enable?

A

Large quantities of microorganisms to be cultured for food

82
Q

What is the fungus fusarium useful for?

A

Producing micro protein, a protein rich food suitable for vegetarians

83
Q

How is the fungus fusarium grown?

A

On glucose syrup, in aerobic conditions, and the biomass is harvested and purified

84
Q

How is genetic modification a good biotechnology technique?

A

A genetically modified bacteria produces human insulin, which when harvested and purified it is useful to treat people with diabetes

85
Q

What can GM crops provide?

A

More food or food with an improved nutritional value such as golden rice

Biology (7 decks)

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