B16+B17 Flashcards
Producers
The start of food chains, produce their own food using energy from the sun.
Plant’s biomass
The mass of living material. These are biological molecules formed when producers such as green plants or algae produce glucose by photosynthesis, with some glucose used to make other biological molecules.
Predators
Consumers that hunt and kill other animals
Distribution
Where an organism is found
How to study the distribution of an organism:
Measure how common an organism is in two sample areas(using quadrats) and compare them.
Study how the distribution changes across an area e.g, by placing quadrats along a transect.
Water cycle
1) Energy from the Sin makes water evaporate from the land and sea(into water vapour) and from plants(transpiration).
2) Warm water vapour is carried upwards and when it gets higher up it cools and condenses to form clouds.
3) Water falls from the clouds as precipitation, where it provides fresh water for plants and animals.
4) Some of this water’s absorbed by the soil and taken up by plant roots for photosynthesis, and to become part of the plants’ tissues(passed along to animals in food chains).
5) Like plants, animals need water for the chemical reactions that occur in their bodies. Animals return water to the soil and atmosphere through excretion, but water that doesn’t get absorbed by the soil will runoff into streams and rivers,
6) From here, the water drains back into the sea, before it evaporates all over again.
Excretion
Processes that get rid of the waste products of chemical reactions e.g. sweating, urination and breathing out
Decay importance in cycle
1) Living things are made of materials they take from the world around them e.g. plants turn elements like carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the soil and the air into the complex compounds(carbohydrates, proteins and fats) that make up living organisms. These get passed up the food chains.
2) These materials are returned to the environment in waste products, or when the organisms die and decay.
3) Materials decay because they’re broken down(digested) by microrganisms, which occurs faster in moist, aerobic(oxygen rich) conditions where microrganisms are more active.
4) Decay returns mineral ions(which plants need to grow) back into the soil.
Carbon cycle
1) CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by green plants and algae during photosynthesis. The carbon’s used to make glucose , which can be turned into carbohydrates, fats and proteins that make up the hodies of the plants and algae.
2) When the plants and algae respire, some carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2.
3) When the plants and algae are eaten by animals, some carbon becomes part of the fats and proteins in their bodies. The carbon then moves through the food chain.
4) When the animals respire, some carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2.
5) When plants, algae and animals die, other animals(called detritus feeders) and microrganisms feed on their remains. When these organisms respire, CO2 is returned to the atmosphere.
6) Animals also produce waste broken down by detritus feeders and microrganisms.
7) The combustion of wood and fossil fuels also releases CO2 back into the air.
Biodiversity
Variety of different species of organisms on Earth, or within an ecosystem
Importance of high biodiversity
Ensures ecosystems are stable as different species depend on each other for shelter and food.
Different species can help maintain the right physical environment for each other(the acidity of the soil).
Humans’ increasing demands on the environment.
1) Our increasing population puts pressure on the environment, as we take the resources we need to survive.
2) But people around the world are also demanding a higher standard of living, so we use more raw materials and more energy for the manufacturing processes. We’re taking more and more resources from the environment more and more quickly. Raw materials are being used up quicker than they’re being replaced.
How do humans produce more waste
Water - Sewage and toxic chemicals from industry can pollute lakes, rivers and oceans, affecting the plants and animals relying on them for survival, with the chemicals used on land(fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides) washed into water.
Land - We use toxic chemicals for farming(e.g, pesticides and herbicides), also burging nuclear waste underground and dumping a lot of household waste in landfill sites,
Air - Smoke and acidic gases released into the atmosphere can pollute the air e.g. sulfur dilxide can cause acid rain
Greenhouse effect
Gases in the atmosphere act as an insulating layer which absorb most of the energy normally radiated out into space, and re-radiate it in all directions(including back towards the Earth). This increases the temperature of the planet.
Temperature of the Earth
A balance between the energy it gets from the Sun and the energy it radiates back out into space
