3-5 Flashcards
(21 cards)
What does sustainability mean?
Means that the resources from the environment can be replaced as quickly as they are used.
What are 4 ways to reduce your ecological footprint?
- Be aware of the products you consume in a typical day
- Reduce the energy you use
- Reduce the number of products you buy
- Reduce the amount of garbage you produce
What is a niche?
Different roles organisms have in their ecosystems.
Can an organism have multiple niches?
Yes
What 3 things do you need to determine to find an organisms niche?
-what it eats
- where it lives
-how it interacts with the other organisms in the same ecosystem.
What are the 5 main niches?
Producers - produce food energy for themselves and others
Consumers - consume the food made by the producers
Herbivores - eat producers (plant eating niche)
Carnivores - eat other consumers (meat eating niche)
Omnivores - eat both producers and consumers
What is a food chain?
a model that shows how energy stored in food passes from organism to organism
What is energy flow?
the movement of energy, starting with the sun, and passing from one organism to another.
What is a food web?
a combination of many different food chains, showing the interrelationships between and among many different producers and consumers in an ecosystem
What is a food pyramid?
a model representing the numbers of organisms consumed at each successive level of the pyramid. The size of the level indicates the number of organisms at that level. There are always more animals being eaten than are eating
What is biomass?
the total mass of all the organisms in the ecosystem
What are scavengers?
organisms that feed on dead or decaying plant or animal matter
How are scavengers and decomposers different?
Decomposers are different from scavengers because they do not actually eat dead material. They grow on or in the dead or waste matter, absorbing the nutrients directly into their cells, which are then recycled back into the environment
Explain the carbon cycle
Plants use carbon dioxide in the air in order to make their own food.
Herbivores eat the plants and release the carbon dioxide when they exhale
Carnivores then eat the herbivores, and obtain their stored carbon
Carbon then circulates through the ecosystem
When does pollution occur?
Pollution occurs when a substance is added to the environment at such a fast rate that it cannot be broken down, stored or recycled in the air, land, or water in a non-damaging form.
What are pollutants?
substances that cause pollution
How does acid rain occur?
Sulfur and Nitrogen at higher than normal levels in the air, which mix with water to produce acidic precipitation
How does carbon dioxide get produced?
Burning of Fossil fuels puts higher than normal levels of CO2 into the atmosphere and the ozone layer (which protects us from radiation) is being depleted.
What is DDT?
a pesticide that used to be used in the 1940’s – 1960’s. It killed the insects on the crops, but leaked into the water supply and began to harm organisms. It is now banned in Canada.
What is bioaccumulation?
The process in which a substance builds up in a living organism from the surrounding air or water, or through the consumption of organisms that already have the substance that is being accumulated.
What is biomagnification?
Increasing levels of the harmful substance in species higher up the food chain.
