topic 9 - ecosystems and material cycles Flashcards
What is an individual
A single organism
What is a population
All the organisms of one species in a habitat
What is a community
All the organisms of different species living in a habitat
What is a ecosystem
A community of organisms along with all the non-living conditions
What are abiotic factors affecting communities
Temperature
Light
Water
Pollutants
What are biotic factors
Competition
Predation
Importance of interdependence in a community
A change in the population of one species can have huge knock on effects for other species in the same community
How does mutualism help organisms survive
- it’s a relationship between two organisms, form which both organisms benefit
How does parasitism help organisms survive
- parasites lives very closely with a host species
- the parasite takes what it needs to survive, but the host doesn’t benefit
CORE PRACTICALS
Mark out a line in the area you want to study
Then collected data along the line using quadrat place next to each other. If your transit is quite long, you could place the quadrats at regular intervals instead. Collect data by counting all the organisms of the species you’re interested in, or by estimating percentage cover. This means estimating the percentage area of a quadrat covered by particular type of organism.
You could also record other data, such as main height of the plant you’re counting all the abiotic factors in each quadrat
Repeat steps one and two several times then find the main number of organisms or main percentage cover
Plot graphs to see if the changing abiotic factor is correlated with the changing distribution of the species you’re studying
A 1200 m² field was randomly sampled for Buttercup using a quadrat with an area of 0.25 m². A mean of 0.75 buttercup were found per quadrat. estimate the total population of Buttercup.
0.5 X4 = three buttercup per metre squared
3X 1200 = 3600 Buttercup in total
How can fish farming reduce biodiversity
- food is added to the next to feed the fish, which produce huge amounts of waste. Both the food and the waste can leak into open water, causing eutrophication and the death of wild species.
- fish comes in open water often acts a breeding ground for large numbers of parasites. These parasites can get out of the farm and infect wild animals, sometimes killing them.
- Predators are attracted to the nets and come become trapped in them and die
- sometimes farmed fish can escape into the wild, which can cause problem for wild populations of indigenous species
How can non-indigenous species reduce biodiversity
- A non-indigenous species is one that doesn’t naturally occur in an area. They can be introduced intentionally or unintentionally. The introduction of a non-indigenous species mate cause problems for indigenous species.
- non-indigenous species compete with indigenous species for resources like food and shelter. Sometimes, they are better at getting these resources and out compete the indigenous species which decrease in number and eventually die out.
- non-indigenous species sometimes also bring new diseases to a habitat. These often infect and kill lots of indigenous species reducing the habitats biodiversity .
How can eutrophication reduce biodiversity
Eutrophication is an excess of nutrients and water which can lead to death of many species present in the water
How can we increase biodiversity in reforestation?
Refer station is when a land where a forest previously stood is replanted to form a new forest
Forest generally have a high biodiversity because they contain a wide variety of treason plants and these provide freedom water for lots of different animal species. Deforestation reduces the biodiversity by removing the trees.
Reforestation programs need to be carefully planned to maximise positive effects and minimise -ones
How does conservation schemes protect biodiversity?
Protecting a species natural habitat
Protect protecting species in safe areas outside of their natural habitat and introducing captive breeding programs to increase numbers
the use of seed banks to store and distribute the seeds of rare and endangered plants
What benefits of maintaining biodiversity on a local and global scale?
Protect protecting the human food supply
Ensuring minimal damage to food chains
Providing future medicines
Culture aspects
Ecotourism
Providing new jobs
How do different material cycle through the abiotic and biotic components of a ecosystem?
Living things are made of elements they take from the environment
They turned his element into the complex compounds that make up living organisms. Elements are passed along food chains when animals eat the plants and each other.
The elements are recycled – waste products and dead organisms are broken down by decomposers and the elements in them are returned to the soil or air, ready to be taken in by new plants and put back into the food chain
How does the carbon cycle work?
Green plants use the carbon from carbon dioxide to make carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Eating passes the carbon compounds in the plant along two animals in a food chain.
Both plant and animal respiration while the organisms are alive releases carbon dioxide back into the air.
Plant animals eventually die in decompose, or are killed and turned into useful products.
When planting animals decompose their broken down by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. These decomposers release carbon dioxide back into the air by respiration, as they break down the material.
Some useful planting animal products, are burnt. This also releases carbon dioxide back into the air.
Decomposition of materials means that the habitats can be maintained for the organisms that live there, such as dead leaves, doesn’t just pile up
Describe the role of microorganisms in the carbon cycle
Microorganisms in the carbon cycle are decomposers. They breakdown dead organisms and waste products and release carbon dioxide through respiration as they do so.
What is the water cycle?
Energy from the Sun makes water evaporate from the land and sea, turning it into water vapour. Water also evaporates from plants – this is known as transpiration.
The warm water vapour is carried upwards. When it gets higher up, it causes and condenses to form clouds.
water falls from the clouds as precipitation on land, we provide provides freshwater for plants and animals.
it then drains into the sea and the whole process starts again.
How can desalination be used to produce potable water from saltwater?
It remove salts from salt water. There are a few different methods of desalination. One really simple method is thermal desalination. This is where water is boiled in a large enclosed vessel so that the water evaporates. The steam rises to the top of the vessel, but the salt stay at the bottom. The sea then travels down the pipe from the top of the vessel and condensed back into pure water.
Reversed osmosis is a modern method of what?
Desalination
How come we use reverse osmosis as a modern method of desalination?
Salt water is first treated to remove solid, before being fed at a very high-pressure into a vessel containing a partially permeable membrane
The pressure causes the water molecules to move in the opposite direction to osmosis – from a higher salt concentration to a low salt concentration. As the water is forced through the membrane, the salts are left behind removing them from the water.
