B7 Ecology Flashcards
(73 cards)
<p>What is a <b>Habitat</b>?</p>
<p>A habitat is the area where organisms live. It is made up of both biotic and abiotic factors</p>
<p>What are <b>Biotic</b> factors?</p>
<p>Biotic factors are the living components in a habitat</p>
<p>What are <b>Abiotic</b> factors?</p>
<p>Abiotic factors are the non-living components in a habitat</p>
<p>What is a <b>Community</b>?</p>
<p>A community is all the biotic compponents living in that particular habitat</p>
<p>What is a <b>population</b>?</p>
<p>A population is all the members of a particular species living in one habitat</p>
<p>What are the different levels of an ecosystem starting from the top down?</p>
<ol><li>Ecosystem</li><li>Community</li><li>Population</li><li>Organism</li></ol>
<p>What factors are needed in a habitat for an organism to survive?</p>
<p>Oxygen, Water, Light and Shelter</p>
<p>How does the availability of different factors affect the habitat?</p>
<p>The availability of different factors affect the number and distribution of organisms within the habitat. If these factors aren't available, the organisms will compete for them</p>
<p>What is the <b>Abundance</b> of an organism?</p>
<p>The abundance is the number of organisms in an ecosystem</p>
<p>What abiotic factors affect an organisms distibution?</p>
<ul><li>Temperature</li><li>Light Intensity</li><li>Pollution</li><li>Moisture</li></ul>
<p>What biotic factors affect an organisms distibution?</p>
<ul><li>Predators</li><li>Disease</li><li>Food</li></ul>
<p>What are <b>Specific Adaptions</b>?</p>
<p>Specific Adaptions are special features or behaviours that have evolved to make an organism particularly suited to its environment</p>
<p>How are Lynxes adapted for catching snowshoe hares?</p>
<ul><li>Warm thick <b>furry coat</b> protects from the cold</li><li><b>Strong hind leg muscles</b></li><li><b>Binocular vision</b> to judge distance</li><li><b>sharp teeth and claws</b></li><li><b>Large paws</b> which act as snow shoes</li></ul>
<p>How are cacti adapted to a very hot, dry climate?</p>
<ul><li>Water is stored in <b>fleshy stem</b> with a <b>thick waxy cuticle</b> to reduce water loss</li><li>Leaves are <b>narrow spines</b> to reduce water loss</li><li>Rounded shape means low surface area to volume ratio, reducing water loss</li><li>Stomata open at night to reduce water loss</li><li>Roots are <b>very deep</b>, or <b>shallow</b> and <b>widespread</b> to catch surface area</li></ul>
<p>What are <b>structural adaptations</b>?</p>
<p>Structural adaptations are physical adaptations, such as the shape of a beak or the size of plant leaves</p>
<p>What are some examples of structural adaptations?</p>
<ul><li>Fur thickness</li><li>Body shape</li><li>teeth size and shape</li><li>internal organisation, such as muscle structure</li></ul>
<p>What are <b>Behavioural adaptations</b>?</p>
<p>Behavioural adaptations are activities that an organism does to help it survive</p>
<p>What are some examples of structural adaptations?</p>
<ul><li>Searching for food</li><li><b>Hibernation</b> during winter</li><li>Herding of animals in large groups</li><li>Vocalistations, such as some birds</li></ul>
<p>What are the two types of behavioural adaptations?</p>
<ul><li>Inherited behaviour</li><li>Learnt behaviour</li></ul>
<p>What is <b>Inherited Behaviour</b>?</p>
<p>Inherited behaviour is behaviour that is instinctive and genetic</p>
<p>What is <b>Learnt Behaviour</b>?</p>
<p>Learnt Behaviour is behaviour that must be taught, or learned, from experience</p>
<p>What are <b>Functional Adaptations</b>?</p>
<p>Functional Adaptations are adaptations relating to a feature, or group of features, that allows an organism to perform a specific function</p>
<p>What do Functional Adaptations aid?</p>
<p>Functional Adaptations aid the survival of an individual</p>
<p>Why can functional adaptations be passed down generations?</p>
<p>Functional adaptations are controlled by genes, so can be passed down from generation to generation</p>
Why is it important organisms are adapted to their environment?
The better adapted an organism is to its habitat, the more successful it will be in competing for resources such as food and mates. This increases the organism's chance of survival, and therefore its chance of reproducing and passing on its genes
What is Competition?
Competition is when individuals have to fight for resources in order to survive
What are the main resources animals compete for?
- Food
- Water
- Mates
- Shelter
What main resources to plants compete for?
- Light
- Water
- Minerals
- Space
What is a Stable Community
A stable community is where the living and non-living factors are balanced. This results in a fairly constant population size of a species
What factors vary a population's size?
- Disease
- Migration
- Predation
What are the steps in a predator-prey cycle?
- There is almost always more prey than predators
- The number of predators increases because there is more prey
- The number of prey reduces because there are more predators
- The number of predators reduces because there is less prey
Define Distribution of organisms
The Distribution of Organisms the organisation of species in their habitat
Define Abundance of Organisms
The Abundance of Organisms is the number of individuals of a species
Why is random sampling necessary in sampling organisms?
Random sampling is necessary to avoid bias in placing the quadrat
How do you calculate the area of a field?
Multiply Width by Breadth
What are Producers?
Producers are organisms that produce biomass
What are Consumers?
Consumers are organisms that cannot produce their own food
How do producers make their own food?
Producers make their own food from photosynthesis. Light is converted into glucose
What is a food chain?
A food chain is a sequence that shows how each individual feeds on the organism below it in the chain
What are Primary Consumers?
Primary Consumers eat producers
What are Secondary Consumers?
Secondary Consumers eat Primary Consumers
What is a Carnivore?
A Carnivore is an organism that eats only meat
What is a Herbivore?
A Herbiovore is an organism that eats only plants
What is an Omnivore?
An Omnivore is an organism that eats both meat and plants
Give two examples of producers?
Green Plants and Algae
What is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the variety of different species of organisms within an ecosystem
How does having great biodiversity ensure stability within an ecosystem?
Species will have less dependence on another species for food, shelter and maintenance on the physical environment
How is water polluted?
Sewage, fertilisers or toxic chemicals
How is air polluted?
Smoke and Acidic gases
How is land polluted?
Landfill & toxic chemicals
Why does pollution reduce biodiversity?
It kills plants and animals
What are the causes of deforestation?
- Building settlements
- Quarrying to extract resources
- Agriculture
- Dumping Waste
What are the consequences of Deforestation?
- Trees won't take in CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it up meaning there is a greater amount of CO2 in the atmosphere
- Burning forestry to clear land suffocates animals and pollutes settlements
- Habitats with high biodiversity are destroyed
- Entire species become extinct
What are Peat Bogs?
Peat Bogs are areas of land that is both acidic and waterlogged. This means microorganisms can't survive and can't decay dead plants. This stores the carbon from the plants and isn't released in the environment
Why are Peat bogs being destroyed?
- Drained to make space for Agriculture
- Burnt for Fuel
- Compost
What are the consequences of Peat Bog destructions?
- Microorganisms are able to decompose the dead organisms which releases CO2 into the environment
- Destorying Habitats reduces biodiversity in the area
Why do pyramids of biomass represent?
The relative amount of biomass ineach level of a food chain
What is found at Trophic Level 1?
Producers
Approximstely how much energy is tranferred to the trophic level above it?
10%
Why is biomass lost through a food web?
- Organisms don't eat every part of the animal before them eg. Teeth and Bones
- Some food eaten may not be absorbed eg. scales are egested as faeces
- Most nutrients that are absorbed are used to release energy through respiration
What is Food Security?
Food Security is having enough food to feed a population
Which factors affect food security?
- Increasing Birth Rate
- Changing Diets in developed countries means scare food resources are transported around the world
- New Pests and Pathogens affecting farming
- Environmental changes such as famines in some countries if rain fails
- The cost of agricultural inputs
- Conflicts in some regions affecting the availability of food and water
How can the energy efficicency of animal farming be improved?
- Limit the movement of the animals
- Control the temperature of the animal's environment
- Give high protein feed to increase the growth of the animals
What is happening to fish stocks in the ocean?
Ocean Fish stocks are declining
What methods are use to have a sustainable fish population size?
- Control of net size: by increasing the net size, immature fish are able to escape and breed
- Fishing Quotas: Limiting the amount of each fish species that can be caught
What does the fungus fusarium produce?
Mycoprotein - used for vegetatian protein
What is required to grow Fusarium
Glucose Syrup and Oxygen
What genetic characteristics could be used in developing GM Crops
- Herbicide or Pesticide Resistance
- Increased Growth or Production
- Added Nutritional Value
In which ways can species be interdependent on each other?
- Pollination
- A species may depend on another for pollination
- Seed Dispersal
- A species may depend on another to spread its seeds
- Shelter
- A species may depend on another species fore shelter
- Food
- A species may depened on another for food
What is a Quadrat?
A squadrat is a square frame that can be used to estimate population sizes
What is a Transect?
A transect is a line that is stretched across the habitat
How do you use Quadrats to estimate a population size?
- Divide the habitat up into a series of quadrat-sized cells
- Randomly select a given number of cells, then go out into the habitat and place the quadrat in these positions
- To evaluate the quadrat contents, either count the number of individual organisms of interest or record the percentage of the quadrat taken up by an organism (e.g. grass)
- The samples from the quadrat are used to estimate the total population in a given area:
population = number counted x (total survey area / area sampled)
