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Biology Unit 3 > 3.5 Population Size And Ecosystems > Flashcards

3.5 Population Size And Ecosystems Flashcards

(70 cards)

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1
Q

What is a community ?

A

All the species living within a particular area

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2
Q

What is ecology ?

A

Branch of science concerned with the study of interactions between living organisms and their environment

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3
Q

What is an ecosystem ?

A

Interactions between living and non living factors in an area

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4
Q

What is an environment ?

A

The habitat and all the external conditions that affect the development and survival of organisms within it

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5
Q

What is a habitat ?

A

The area an organism occupies

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6
Q

What is niche ?

A

The role and position a species has within its environment

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7
Q

What is a population ?

A

The total number of a single species within a given area

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8
Q

What is an abiotic environment ?

A

Effects of the non living part of the environment - pH, light, temperature

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9
Q

What is a biotic environment ?

A

Effects of living community - predation and disease

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10
Q

What are climatic factors ?

A

Effects of the weather

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11
Q

What are topographic factors ?

A

Angle and aspect of a slope- sheltered or exposed

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12
Q

What are edaphic factors ?

A

Factors associated with soil- temperature, pH, texture and organic content

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13
Q

What is immigration ?

A

Movement into a population

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14
Q

What is emigration ?

A

Movement out of a population

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15
Q

What is birth rate ?

A

Number of individuals being born in the population

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16
Q

What is death rate ?

A

Number of individuals dying within the population

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17
Q

What is a density dependent factor ?

A

The greater the population density the greater the affect in the population- predation, space, disease

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18
Q

What is a density independent factor ?

A

Still affect the population regardless of population density- Natural disaster

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19
Q

What is carrying capacity ?

A

Average maximum number of individuals of a given species that may occupy a habitat

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20
Q

What is a predator ?

A

An organism that hunts, kills and eats other organisms

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21
Q

What shape does a 1 step growth curve represent ?

A

Sigmoidal curve

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22
Q

What is the lag phase ?

A

Slow population growth, low for sexually reproducing organisms, nutrients and habitat are readily available as not much competition

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23
Q

What is the stationary phase ?

A

When birth rate = death rate, fluctuates small amounts

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24
Q

What is the death phase ?

A

Factors slowing population growth become more predominant
Death rate is greater than birth rate

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25
What is the purpose of the students t test ?
To decide whether there is a significant difference between 2 samples of data
26
What is biomass transfer ?
The conversion of sunlight energy into chemical energy that then passes between organisms in the food chain. Energy available at tropic level contributes to biomass
27
What is biomass ?
The mass of biological material in living or freshly dead organisms
28
What group of the food chain are herbivores ?
Primary consumers
29
What stage of the food chain are carnivores ?
Secondary, tertiary and higher consumers
30
What do detritivores and decomposers feed as ?
Saprobionts
31
What is a saprobiont ?
An organism that derives energy and raw materials for growth from extra cellular digestion of dead or decaying material
32
What are detritivores ?
Organisms that feed on small fragments of organic debris
33
What are decomposers ?
Microbes that obtain nutrients from dead organisms and animal waste
34
What is photosynthetic efficiency
The measure of the plants ability to trap sunlight
35
What are some of the reasons why plants do not absorb light energy ?
Wrong wavelength Reflected Transmitted through leaf
36
What is gross primary productivity ?
The rate of production of chemical energy in organic molecules by photosynthesis in a given area and time
37
What is gross primary productivity measured in ?
kJ per m2 per year
38
What is net primary productivity ?
Energy in plants biomass which is available to primary consumers
39
What is primary productivity?
The rate at which food is converted by producers into biomass
40
What is secondary productivity ?
The rate at which consumers convert the chemical energy of their food into biomass
41
How is energy lost during secondary productivity?
By respiration, urine and faeces
42
What is an ecological pyramid ?
A diagram that shows a particular feature of each trophic level in an ecosystem, each bar represents a trophic level
43
What are the 3 types of ecological pyramid ?
Pyramid of numbers Pyramid of biomass Pyramid of energy
44
What is succession ?
The change in structure and species composition of a community over time
45
What is a climax community ?
A stable self perpetuating community that has reached equilibrium with its environment and no further change occurs
46
What is primary succession ?
The change in structure and species composition of a community in an area that has not previously been colonised.
47
What is a sere ?
Sequence of communities with the different species and structures
48
What is a xerosere ?
A sere in a very dry environment
49
What are seral stages ?
Stages of a sere
50
What is a pioneer species ?
First species to colonise in a new area in an ecological succession
51
What is secondary succession ?
The changes in a community following the disturbance or damage to a colonised habitat
52
What is dis climax ?
Human interference can affect succession and may affect the development of the climatic climax community
53
What are the factors that affect succession ?
Immigration and competition
54
What are the 2 types of competition ?
Intraspecific Interspecific
55
What is intraspecific competition ?
Competition between individuals of the same species
56
What is interspecific competition ?
Competition between individuals of different species for common needs
57
What is facilitation ?
Enabling something to happen in an ecological community to provide better resources and availability from physical stress, competition and predation
58
What is symbiosis ?
The association between individuals of 2 species
59
What is mutualism ?
An interaction between organisms of 2 species from which both benefit
60
What is commensalism ?
An interaction between organisms of 2 species when 1 benefits and 1 is not affected by
61
What processes are involved in the carbon cycle ?
Respiration Photosynthesis Decomposition
62
What is climate change ?
Caused by rise in atmospheric CO2 and greenhouse gases due to deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels
63
What is global warming ?
The increase of average global temperatures in excess of the greenhouse effect caused by the atmospheres historical concentration of CO2
64
What is a carbon footprint ?
The equivalent amount of CO2 generated by an individual, a product or service in a year
65
How can humans improve nitrogen circulation in soils ?
Ploughing fields Drainage systems Fertilisers Use of animal waste Planting cover crops and legumes
66
What is eutrophication ?
The artificial enrichment of aquatic habitats by excess nutrients, often caused by run of fertilisers
67
What is denitrification?
Loss of soluble nitrate compounds from the soil using denitrifying bacteria called psuedomas
68
What is nitrogen fixing ?
Fixing atmospheric nitrogen gas into ammonia and ammonium ions
69
What is nitrogen essential for ?
ATP DNA RNA Amino acids
70
What is nitrification ?
Converting products of decay into nitrate ions

Biology Unit 3 (8 decks)

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