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GCSE Biology > 9) Ecosystems > Flashcards

9) Ecosystems Flashcards

1
Q

What is an ecosystem made up of?

A

Abiotic and biotic parts

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2
Q

What are the levels of ecosystem organisation? (3)

A

Individuals
Populations
Communities

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3
Q

What are communities made up of?

A

Populations from different species

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4
Q

What are populations made up of?

A

Individual organisms to make up a single species

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5
Q

What do plants compete for? (4)

A

Water
Mineral ions
Light
Space

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6
Q

What do animals compete for? (3)

A

Food
Mates
Territory

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7
Q

What is interdependence?

A

One species relying on another species for different things

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8
Q

What do species rely on other species for? (4)

A

Shelter
Seed dispersal
Food
Pollination

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9
Q

When is a community stable?

A

When all the species and environmental factors are balanced and population sizes are more or less constant

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10
Q

What are the levels of the food chain? (5)

A

1) Producer makes its own food through photosynthesis (algae, plants)
2) Primary consumers
3) Secondary con sumers
4) Tertiary consumers
5) Apex predators

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11
Q

What do food chains show?

A

The feeding relationships within a community

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12
Q

What components are food chains made up of? (4)

A

Predators
Prey
Apex predators
Decomposers

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13
Q

What are decomposers?

A

The final stop for food chains, they break down dead material by secreting enzymes
Enzymes partially digest waste products and produce small food molecules

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14
Q

What are apex predators?

A

Predators which are not prayed upon

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15
Q

What are prey?

A

Animals predators eat

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16
Q

What are predators?

A

Consumers that eat other animals

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17
Q

What does a trophic level describe?

A

Where an organism fits into a food chain

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18
Q

What is at level 1 of the food chain?

A

Producers that use light energy to synthesise their own food

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19
Q

What is at level 2 of the food chain?

A

Primary consumers that eat plants/ algae (herbivores)

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20
Q

What is at level 3 of the food chain?

A

Secondary consumers that eat herbivores (carnivores)

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21
Q

What is at level 4 of the food chain?

A

Tertiary consumers that eat other carnivores

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22
Q

What do predator-prey graphs show?

A

The cyclical nature of predator and prey populations in stable communities

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23
Q

What is the process of a predator-prey graph?

A

1) An increase in prey numbers means more food is available for predators so predator numbers increase
2) The increase in predator numbers means the prey have more predators so the prey numbers decrease
3) The predators then have less food available so their numbers decrease
4) The decreasing predator numbers allows the prey numbers to increase again, and the cycle repeats

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24
Q

What is parasitism?

A

One organism benefits from the relationship but the other is harmed

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25
Q

What is mutualism?

A

Both species benefit in this relationship

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26
Q

What are the types of relationship between species? (4)

A

Predator-prey
Producer-herbivore
Mutualism
Parasitism

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27
Q

Why is the recycling of materials essential for future organisms?

A

They provide the building blocks

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28
Q

What does the water cycle describe?

A

How water moves on, or above or below the surface of our planet between different locations

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29
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

1) Carbon is removed from the atmosphere by producers who use it in photosynthesis
2) Animals obtain carbon compounds by consuming plant matter
3) Carbon is returned into the atmosphere because of respiration in plant and animal cells
4) When animals and plants die, decomposers return the carbon locked in their bodies back to the atmosphere via decay
5) Combustion of fossil fuels is another source of carbon entry into the atmosphere

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30
Q

What is the nitrogen cycle?

A

Nitrogen is present in all living organisms

It moves through food chains and is recycled when organisms die

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31
Q

What is the process of the nitrogen cycle?

A

1) Plants absorb nitrates from the soil and grow with the help of bacteria in roots (root nodule bacteria)
2) Plants absorb nitrogen from the air
3) Farmers may add fertilisers with root nodule bacteria to add nitrates to infertile soil
4) Nitrogen passed onto animals that eat the plants
5) Plants and animals die and bacteria recycle nitrogen back into soil through decomposition
6) Lightning strikes soil and nitrogen is released back into the air

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32
Q

What type of bacteria helps plants absorb nitrogen in the soil?

A

Root nodule bacteria

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33
Q

What is the process of the water cycle?

A

1) Water evaporates from the Earth’s surface and rises to the atmosphere
2) Water vapour in atmosphere cools and condenses to rain or snow
3) Rain or snow will become surface run off or ground water
4) Plants take up water through their roots
5) We get drinking water by filtering or adding chemicals to fresh water or by desaltinating seawater

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34
Q

What is responsible for recycling organic matter within an ecosystem?

A

Decomposers

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35
Q

What do decomposers produce?

A

Compost

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36
Q

How do decomposers break down dead materials?

A

Secreted enzymes partly digest waste products by producing small and soluble food molecules which can diffuse into the decomposer

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37
Q

What factors affect the rate of decay? (3)

A

Temperature
Oxygen availability
Moisture availability

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38
Q

What are the types of decomposers? (2)

A

Fungi

Bacteria

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39
Q

What methods are used to preserve food by decreasing the rate of decay? (5)

A 
Freezing
Storing in another gas
Storing in oil
Irradiating
Salting
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40
Q

How does storing food in another gas slow the rate of decay?

A

Low/ no oxygen availability stops aerobic respiration

41
Q

How does irradiating food lower the rate of decay?

A

Radiation kills decomposers

42
Q

What does the temperature and milk decay practical measure?

A

The effect of temperature on milk by measuring pH change

43
Q

What is the process of the decay of milk practical? (4)

A

1) Use a water bath to heat all of the components to a given temperature
2) Mix the milk, sodium carbonate and Cresol red to create a purple solution
3) Add lipase to the solution and start timing
4) When solution turns yellow stop timing
5) Repeat using different temperatures

44
Q

What is the independent variable of the milk decay practical?

A

Temperature

45
Q

What is the dependent variable of the milk decay practical?

A

Time taken for solution to turn yellow

46
Q

Why are lipase and sodium carbonate used in the milk decay practical?

A

To speed the slow decay

47
Q

What indicator is used in the milk decay practical?

A

Cresol red

48
Q

What substances are added in the milk dceay practical? (4)

A

Milk
Cresol red
Lipase
Soidum carbonate

49
Q

What is biomass?

A

The total number of living material in an organism multiplied by the number of organisms

50
Q

How is the relative amount of bioamss at each trophic level in a food chain represented?

A

A pyramid of biomass

51
Q

Why is less energy and biomass passed onto to the higher food chain organisms?

A

Energy is wasted at each trophic level

52
Q

What is the general rule for transfer efficiency between trophic levels?

A

10% available to next trophic level

53
Q

How much light energy do producers trap?

A

1%

54
Q

What are reasons for inefficient transfer of biomass? (4)

A

Movement
Digestion
Excretion
Body temperature

55
Q

Why does movement waste biomass transfer energy?

A

Large quantities of glucose are used to produce energy

Highly mobile animals require a lot of energy to sustain movement meaning less energy for growth

56
Q

Why does digestion waste biomass energy transfer?

A

Not all food is digested

Some food is stored as the waste material faeces

57
Q

Why does excretion waste biomass energy transfer?

A

Some material is excreted such as carbon dioxide, water and urea

58
Q

What are quadrats?

A

Square frames used to estimate population sizes

59
Q

What are transects?

A

A piece of tape that is stretched across the habitat of interest

60
Q

What are transects used to do?

A

Investigate the effect of a factor on the distribution of a species

61
Q

What is the median?

A

Middle value

62
Q

What is the mode?

A

Most common value

63
Q

What is the mean?

A

Average value

64
Q

What metrics are used for organism abundance?

A

Mean
Mode
Median

65
Q

What is the process of using quadrats to estimate a population size?

A

1) Divide habitat into series of quadrat sized cells
2) Randomly select a given number of cells and go out into the habitat and place a quadrat in these positions
3) To evaluate count the number of individual organisms of interest or record the percentage of the quadrat taken up by an organism
4) Samples from the quadrat are used to estimate the total population of a given area

66
Q

What is the equation for population using quadrats?

A

population = number counted x (total survey area / area sampled)

67
Q

Why can’t most animals be sampled with quadrats or transects?

A

They are mobile

68
Q

What is the method of estimating the animal population size of an area?

A

Capture-recapture

Animals are caught, marked and then released

69
Q

How are crawling insects and birds caught?

A

Pooters and nets

70
Q

What can slurry be used as?

A

Fertiliser

71
Q

What fungus is grown to produce Mycoprotein?

A

Fusarium

72
Q

What has led to the decline of many fish stocks across the globe?

A

Overfishing

73
Q

What is correlation?

A

A relationship or connection between things

74
Q

What is causation?

A

When a change in one factor is the reason for a change in another factor

75
Q

What type of sampling should be used when assessing ecosystems?

A

Random sampling

76
Q

Why have warning signs against a lack of biodiversity been ignored?

A

Pursuit of economic gain

77
Q

What is an attitude shift to biodiversity causing?

A

Measures taken to prevent further damage being done

78
Q

What does industrial waste affect? (3)

A

Water
Air
Land

79
Q

How is water contaminated by industrial waste?

A

Sewage and toxic chemicals find their way into water sources

80
Q

What are some land pollutants?

A

Toxic herbicides and pesticides
Buried nuclear waste
Household waste in landfill sites

81
Q

What gas cause acid rain?

A

Sulfur dioxide

82
Q

What is deforestation?

A

The cutting, clearing and removal or trees in order to free up land for biofuels as well as cattle and rice fields

83
Q

What are negative consequences of deforestation?

A

Methane release
Carbon dioxide release
Loss of ecosystem services
Loss of biodiversity

84
Q

Why does deforestation increase carbon dioxide release?

A

Less photosynthesis is taking place

85
Q

What are consequences of global warming? (7)

A

Migration patterns
Rising sea surface temperatures bleach sensitive corals
Ocean acidification makes it harder for corals to build their skeleton
Increased extreme meterological events
Distribution of species
Melting ice causing rising sea levels
Reduction of biodiversity

86
Q

What are pros and cons of fish farming?

A

Pros- reduces the pressure of overfishing on wild fish populations
Cons- parasites, diseases and excess nutrients can leak into the surroundiung environment

87
Q

What is eutrophication?

A

When nutrient levels in a body of water increase

88
Q

What does eutrophication cause?

A

Improved growth in nutrient poor environments

Increases in algae which are toxic to many species

89
Q

What are invasive species?

A

Species that are not native to a habitat but have been introduced by humans

90
Q

What is a con of invasive species?

A

They outcompete native species and cause a loss of biodiversity

91
Q

When will food security be achieved?

A

When the whole global human population has access to enough safe and nutritious food to stay healthy

92
Q

What are obstacles to food security? (6)

A 
Birth rates 
Conflicts
Costs of agricultural inputs 
Diet shifts 
New pests and pathogens
Extreme meterological events
93
Q

What programmes attempt to reduce the negative impacts humans have on biodiversity? (5)

A

Breeding programmes
Regeneration of rare and threatened habitats
Government-imposed targets
Recycling waste
Incentivising farmers to maintain fiel margins

94
Q

What can an indicator species signal?

A

The levels of a specific environmental condition by being present or absent

95
Q

What do lichen species indicate?

A

Levels of air pollution

96
Q

What do the different species of lichen mean?

A

Bushy lichen need really clean air
Leafy lichen can survive a small amount of air pollution
Crusty lichens can survive in more polluted air

97
Q

Where do blacksport fungus grow?

A

Roses if there is a low concentration of sulfur dioxide

98
Q

What are uses of sampling indicator species?

A

Cost effectice and simple way of measuring pollution levels
Early indication of environmental changes
Not very precise

99
Q

What do different species in water show?

A

Bloodworm and sludgeworm can live in highly polluted water

Freshwater shrimp and stonefly can only live in clean water

GCSE Biology (10 decks)

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