B5: Ecosystems Flashcards
Section B: Chapter 5 [2nd Edition Textbook]
What is an ecosystem?
This is a living community of plants and animals, which depend on each other for life, and also upon non-living elements.
What are the two factors involved in an ecosystem?
Biotic: Living factors (plants, animals, competition, disease)
Abiotic: non-living factors (water, weather, climate)
What are the different trophic levels in a food chain?
Producers - plants or other organisms that photosynthesize to produce their source of energy.
Primary consumers - eat the producers
Secondary Consumers - eat the primary consumers
etc.
What is a decomposer?
Organisms that break down dead organic matter ands animal excretions (this can be fungi insects or bacteria)
What is a nutrient cycle?
It shows the cycling of nutrients through biomass, litter and soil.
What is biomass?
The weight of all living things in an ecosystem
What are the components of soil?
Decomposed biotic matter and broken down rocks, minerals.
What is the litter comprised of in a nutrient cycle?
dead organic matter, like dead animals, dead leaves, and animal excrement
Describe a nutrient cycle?
The soil gains nutrients from weathered rock, which is taken up by plants and added to the biomass. Some nutrients in the soil are lost through leeching.
The nutrients gained by the plants is lost as tissues die. This adds to litter.
The litter loses some nutrients through surface runoff, and releases some nutrients back into the soil as the litter decomposes.
Some nutrient is added to the litter through being dissolved in the rain.
How is the nutrient cycle in a deciduous woodland different?
The soil circle is larger than usual, due to the type of soil being clay - which when wet, holds on to the nutrients
The litter circle is very small, as trees don’t always shed their leaves, and there are more decomposers such as the red wriggler - which increase the rate of decomposition. Making the biomass circle larger, and the litter circle smaller.
What are the producers in Gledhow Valley Woods?
Oak Trees, Beech and Silver Birch
What are the decomposers in Gledhow Valley Woods?
Fungi: Ear Fungus, Witches Butter
Beetles
What are the primary consumers in Gledhow Valley Woods?
Squirrels, and Moth caterpillars, aphids
What are the secondary consumers in Gledhow Valley Woods?
Water voles, Wood mice
What are the tertiary consumers (or the apex predators) in Gledhow Valley Woods?
Red Kite, foxes, owls
What are biomes?
Large ecosystems that cover the world, and usually have a very distinct type of vegetation and characteristics.
How is Gledhow valley woods managed?
Community called ‘The friends of gledhow valley woods’
They manage the woods by pollarding trees.
They hold action mornings by getting people to help litter pick and clear paths
What is pollarding?
Cutting back some trees so that other species can grow by accessing resources, and decreasing the competition.
This allows a better habitat for birds and insects
and it increases biodiversity
How did re-introducing grey wolves back into Yellowstone national park benefit the scavengers?
Reintroduced 16packs of 12 animals - each back killed 1 elk per day
More kills means more food for scavengers - so increased population of grizzly bears, cougars, magpies and eagles.
How did re-introducing grey wolves back into Yellowstone national park benefit the rodents?
Competition from wolves decreases the coyote population, so reduction in predation of small rodents
Increased population of voles, mice and predators of rodents like red foxes and birds of prey
How did re-introducing grey wolves back into Yellowstone national park benefit the habitats?
Elk population fell from 20,000 to 10,000 so reduction in grazing and pressure on vegetation. So aspen and cotton wood regenerate - so more tree cover
Stabilizes river banks, less erosion - creates environment for trout
Increased tree cover is better habitats for songbirds.
How did re-introducing grey wolves back into Yellowstone national park benefit the beavers?
Elk population fell from 20,000 to 10,000 so reduction in grazing and pressure on vegetation. So aspen and cotton wood regenerate.
Aspen trees attract beavers which can recolonize Yellowstone.
Beavers create bonds and flooded areas, promoting growth of aspen.
