B3

Question 1

What is ecology

Answer 1

the study of the interactions of organisms with each other and their environment.

Question 2

What is a community

Answer 2

all the living things in a habitat

Question 3

What is a population

Answer 3

all the living organisms of one species in a habitat

Question 4

What is a habitat

Answer 4

place where an organism lives

Question 5

What is a ecosystem

Answer 5

an interacting group of organisms and their environment.

Question 6

What to food chains show

Answer 6

how living things get their food/energy

Question 7

Why do food chains occasionally show the sun

Answer 7

this is bc. the sun is the principal source of energy input into all living organisms

Question 7

What do the arrows in food chains must always point to

Answer 7

living thing that is taking in food or energy. Arrows show the direction of flow of energy.

Question 8

What are food chains

Answer 8

charts that show the flow of energy from one organism to the next beginning with a producer of energy.

Question 9

What are producers

Answer 9

They make their own organic nutrients, usually by photosynthesis, using energy from the Sun.

Question 10

What are consumers

Answer 10

organisms that feed on other organisms for energy.

Question 11

What can primary consumers also be called

Answer 11

Herbivores,
are animals that eat plants or parts of plants as all producers are a type of plant

Question 12

What are secondary and tertiary consumers called

Answer 12

Carnivores or predators as they eat other animals the primary or secondary consumer.

Question 13

What are herbivores

Answer 13

animals that get their energy from plants

Question 14

What are carnivores

Answer 14

animals that get their energy from animals

Question 15

What is a food web

Answer 15

food web as a network of interconnected food chains

Question 16

Difference between food web and food chain

Answer 16

food web contains multiple food chains

Question 17

What’s a decomposer

Answer 17

an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic matter.

Question 18

Where is a decomposer usually in a food chain

Answer 18

It actually comes after the apex predator which is tertiary, once the apex predator dies it decomposes of it and gives it back to the soil for plants to grow back again

Question 19

What are different stages of food chains also called

Answer 19

trophic levels. For example producers make up the first trophic level, primary consumers make up the second trophic level

Question 20

What is a ecosystem

Answer 20

containing all of the organisms and their environment, interacting together, in a given area, e.g. a lake,

Question 21

Why doesn’t all the energy from one trophic level get passed down

Answer 21

As energy is used for metabolic processes such as breathing, digestion, and the maintenance of body temperature. Energy is lost as heat during each transfer. It’s unlikely that they will eat all of the body. Some energy is lost as waste or dead organic matter.

Question 22

Why cant food chains go above the 4th trophic level

Answer 22

as Almost all the energy will be gone

Question 23

What is more efficient in energy a long food chain or short food chain

Answer 23

short food chain with only one or two links between the original producers and the final consumers is more efficient in terms of energy.

Question 24

Where do plants the producers get their plants from

Answer 24

The minerals that plants need from the soil are mostly released from the decayed remains of animals and plants and their waste. This is one example of natural recycling. There is only a limited amount (on Earth) of the elements that living things need and use.

Question 25

What is natural recycling

Answer 25

using things over again as earth has a limited amount of elements.

Question 26

What are the 4 most important elements to living things

Answer 26

carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N). Important substances such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Proteins also contain nitrogen.

Question 27

What is the carbon cycle

Answer 27

Photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O + light energy → glucose (C6H12O6) + O2 Carbon absorbed by plants, converted into organic compounds Respiration: Glucose (C6H12O6) + O2 → CO2 + H2O + energy Carbon released back into atmosphere as CO2 Feeding: Herbivores eat plants, absorbing carbon Carnivores eat herbivores, absorbing carbon Decomposition: Organic matter breaks down into CO2, releasing carbon Microorganisms like bacteria and fungi facilitate decomposition Fossilisation: Plant and animal remains buried, converted into fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) Carbon stored for millions of years Combustion: Fossil fuels burned, releasing CO2 into atmosphere Carbon returned to atmosphere, contributing to greenhouse effect

Question 28

Undesirable Effects of Deforestation

Answer 28

They can contain up to 90% the nutrients in a forest ecosystem. These nutrients are taken away from the ecosystem killing lots. Soil erosion may occur without absence trees because wind and direct rain may remove the soil, and soil structure is no longer stabilised by tree root systems. Habitat Destruction: Extinction of species Loss of biodiversity Environmental Consequences: Loss of soil quality and fertility Increased flooding and erosion Increased CO2 concentration in atmosphere Disruption of water cycles and weather patterns

Question 29

Undesirable Effects of Deforestation on the Environment

Answer 29

Ecological Imbalance: Disrupts food chains and webs Affects nutrient cycling and decomposition Climate Change: Contributes to global warming and climate change Increases greenhouse gas emissions

Question 30

effect of combustion of Fossil Fuels & Deforestation on oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere

Answer 30

Combustion of fossil fuels will increase carbon dioxide as it's a byproduct of it Deforestation releases stored CO2 into the atmosphere Fossil fuel combustion reduces oxygen availability as it is used during combustion Deforestation Trees and plants produce O2 through photosynthesis Deforestation reduces O2 production, decreasing atmospheric levels

Question 31

Why is fertilizer used

Answer 31

to increase food production as human population icnreases

Question 32

Side effects of using fertilizer

Answer 32

* Fertiliser can be washed through the soil into rivers and streams — this is called leaching. * Once in the water it causes weeds and algae to grow. * These plants eventually die and rot on the river bed. * Decomposers like bacteria thrive with all the dead vegetation to eat. * They multiply rapidly and use up a lot of oxygen. * The river may become so low in oxygen that fish and freshwater invertebrates die. Adding nutrients to the environment in this way is called eutrophication.

Question 33

Why is greenhouse effect technically a good thing

Answer 33

It keeps earth warm with water vapour and co2

Question 34

What is making green house effect such a bad

Answer 34

There's too much carbon dioxide and methane in our atmosphere and will cause our world to warm rising sea levels due to melting land ice and the thermal expansion of seawater.

Question 35

Why has co2 been increasing in past decades

Answer 35

Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) which release CO2 Burning peat for fuel Making concrete and cement from limestone Deforestation of tropical rainforests

Question 36

4 common pollutants in air

Answer 36

Carbon monoxide Sulphur dioxide Soot (carbon) NOx (oxides of nitrogen)

Question 37

How is carbon monoxide in air

Answer 37

It can be sourced to the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (eg in car engines)

Question 38

What effect does carbon monoxide have on people and enviorment

Answer 38

a poisonous gas, deadly in high concentrations.

Question 39

What affect can overharvesting of food spieces lead to

Answer 39

overpopulation of another spieces or death or extinction

Question 40

Why is it better for humans to eat crop plants than to eat livestock that have been fed on plants

Answer 40

They will recieve more energy eating the crop plant, they would have to eat much more live stock to make up the amount they could have from a crop plant as it is a producer.

Question 41

What is biodiversity

Answer 41

number of different species that live in an area

Question 42

what are some reasons for habitat destruction

Answer 42

increasing area for housing, livestock, or plant production extraction natural resources freshwater and marine pollution

Question 43

Why can organisms become endangered or extinct

Answer 43

Bc. habitat desturction, hunted, overharvested, pollution of habitat, forign spieces introduced and climate change

Question 44

How can we save endangered species

Answer 44

seed banks, captive breeding programmes, monnitoring and protecting species and their habitats, and public education of them

Question 45

What is the nutrient cycle

Answer 45

a system where energy and matter are transferred between living organisms and non-living parts of the environment.