Chapter 14 (Ecosystems) Flashcards

1
Q

What is ecosystem and what are the components of ecosystems?

A

ecosystem - living + non-living

It includes:
- Producers
- Consumers
- Decomposers
- The physical environment

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2
Q

What are living and non-living components of an ecosystem called?

A
  • living components - biotic components
  • non-living components - abiotic components
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3
Q

What is habitat?

A

Habitat is the place where an organism lives.

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4
Q

What is population?

A

Number of the organisms of a particular species found in an ecosystem at a certain time.

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5
Q

What is community?

A

The populations of all species found in an ecosystem at a particular time.

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6
Q

How do ecologist count number of organism in a ecosystem?

A

By sample.

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7
Q

How are sampling done?

A

It can be done using a quadrat.

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8
Q

What does the size of quadrats depend on?

A

It depends on the size of the organisms being sampled.

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9
Q

What is needed to be consider when sampling an area?

A

It must be carried out at random to avoid bias.

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10
Q

How can sampling be done to avoid biased?

A

By using random number generator.

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11
Q

What is ecosystem’s biodiversity?

A

The amount of variation shown by species in an ecosystem.

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12
Q

What are the measurements of biodiversity?

A
  • Species richness (number of different species present)
  • Their evenness of number
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13
Q

What is the benefit of ecosystems with high biodiversity?

A

They are often more stable than ones with lower biodiversity.

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14
Q

Why higher biodiversity are more stable than ones with low biodiversity?

A

Because an ecosystem that is dominated by one or a few species is more likely to be affected by any sort of ecological disaster.

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15
Q

What are the interactions in ecosystem?

A
  • Feeding among the organisms
  • Competition among the organisms
  • Interaction between organisms and the environment
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16
Q

What does food chain show?

A

It shows the feeding relationships between organisms within a ecosystem.

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17
Q

Food chain
_____ —–> _____ —–> _____ —–> _____.

A

Producer, Primary consumer, Secondary consumer, Tertiary consumer

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18
Q

What is more than one food chain called?

A

Food Web

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19
Q

Which kind of animals are primary consumers and secondary consumer?

A

Primary consumers - herbivore
Secondary consumers - Carnivore

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20
Q

How much energy from the eaten animal is transferred to the animal which eat it?

A

Only 10%

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21
Q

What is the name of animals that eat tertiary consumer?

A

Quaternary consumer

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22
Q

What do different stages in a food chain called?

A

Trophic levels

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23
Q

What does arrow mean in food chain?

A

Eaten by

24
Q

What is the disadvantage of food chain?

A

They don’t give any information about how many, or what mass of organisms is involved and they don’t show the role of decomposers.

25
Q

Biotic factors are _____?

A

Biological

26
Q

Abiotic factors are ______?

A

Physical or chemical

27
Q

What is ecosystem?

A

Ecosystem is a distinct, self-supporting system of organisms interacting with each other and with a physical environment.

28
Q

What are examples of biotic factors?

A
  • Food supply / competition for food
  • Predation
  • Parasitism
  • Disease
  • Presence of pollinating insects
  • Availability of nest sites
29
Q

What are examples of abiotic factors?

A
  • Climate (light intensity, temperature)
  • Hours of daylight
  • Soil condition
  • Pollution
  • other factors specific to a particular habitat
30
Q

What is main biotic factors affecting animals?

A

Food supply

31
Q

What is main abiotic factor affecting large ecosystem?

A

Climate (Temperature/ rainfall)

32
Q

What are factors affecting the species richness and their evenness depend on?

A

Type of ecosystem

33
Q

What are ecological pyramids?

A

They are diagrams that represent the relative amounts of organisms at each trophic level in a food chain.

34
Q

What are 2 main types of ecological pyramids?

A
  • Pyramids of numbers
  • Pyramids of biomass
35
Q

What does pyramids of number show?

A

It represent the numbers of organisms in each trophic level in a food chain.

36
Q

What does pyramids of biomass show?

A

It show the total mass of the organism in each trophic level.

37
Q

Which ecological pyramid tend to always stay in pyramid shape?

A

Pyramid of biomass

38
Q

What the mass of the of organism decrease in in pyramid of biomass?

A
  • Some parts are not eaten
  • Some pats are not digested and absorbed
  • Some materials form excretory products
  • Many materials are use to respire to release energy

These losses are repeated at each stage in the food chain.

39
Q

What is a way of transferring energy between organisms?

A

Feeding

40
Q

Why some marine food chains have six trophic levels?

A

Because of the huge amount of light energy reaching the surface water.

41
Q

Which organisms pay key role in recycling and why?

A

Microorganisms since they break down organic molecules in the dead bodies of animals and plants into simpler substances.

42
Q

What are some important process in cycling carbon through ecosystem?

A
  • Photosynthesis
  • Feeding and assimilation
  • Respiration
  • Fossilization
  • Combustion
43
Q

What fixes carbon atoms from carbon dioxide into organic compounds?

A

Photosynthesis

44
Q

What does feeding and assimilation do?

A

It pass carbon atoms along food chains.

45
Q

What release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in carbon cycling?

A
  • Respiration of animals, plants and decomposers
  • Combustion of fossil fuels,
46
Q

What is fossilization?

A

Where some dead organisms do not decay fully and become fossil fuels due to conditions in the soil.

47
Q

Where are nitrogen included?

A

Proteins, vitamins, DNA and ATP.

48
Q

What pass the nitrogen atoms along food chains?

A

Feeding and assimilation

49
Q

What are importance process in cycling nitrogen through ecosystem?

A
  • Feeding and assimilation
  • Decomposition
  • Nitrification
  • Absorption of nitrogen by plant roots
50
Q

What is nitrification?

A

Where nitrifying bacteria oxidized ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate.

51
Q

What does denitrifying bacteria do?

A

It use nitrates as energy source and convert them into nitrogen gas.

52
Q

What reduce the amount of nitrate in the soil?

A

Denitrification

53
Q

What convert nitrogen gas into ammonia?

A

Free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil

54
Q

What is mutualism?

A

Where both organisms benefit from the relationship.

55
Q

What converts nitrogen gas in the air into oxides of nitrogen (nitrite)?

A

Lightening

56
Q

How does nitrogen from dead matter returns?

A

They return to soil as ammonia by decomposers.

57
Q

Which kind of biomass is used to measure?

A

Dry biomass