B9 ECOLOGY

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

An area in which the interactions between all the living organisms and all the physical factors form a stable relationship needing no external input

Question 2

Habitat

Answer 2

A Particula area within an ecosystem

Question 3

Community

Answer 3

All the organisms living in an ecosystem

Question 4

Interdependence

Answer 4

The way in which the organisms in an area depend on each other for food shelter protection and so on

Question 5

Population

Answer 5

The members of one particular species within an ecosystem

Question 6

Abundance

Answer 6

The number of members of one species in an ecosystem

Question 7

Quadrat

Answer 7

I metal square used to help find the number of small organisms living in an area

Question 8

Random sampling

Answer 8

Estimating the population of organisms in an area by randomly dropping a contract several times finding the average number of organisms present and scaling up your answer

Question 9

Population size

Answer 9

Population size equals number of organisms in quadrat times total area divided by contract area

Question 10

Abiotic factor

Answer 10

A non-living factor that influences what can live where

Question 11

Important abiotic factors

Answer 11

Temperature light intensity rainfall type of landscape soil pH soil nutrients pollution

Question 12

Pollutants

Answer 12

Substances produced by human activities that can poison some or all of the living organisms in an area

Question 13

Adaptations to abiotic factors

Answer 13

Features of plants and animals that are suited to the abiotic factors where they live

Question 14

Changes to abiotic factors

Answer 14

If abiotic factor changes such as temperature increases due to global warming organisms may no longer be well adapt to where they live and may die out

Question 15

Biotic factor

Answer 15

Anything factor that influences what can live where

Question 16

Important biotic factors

Answer 16

The presence of food organisms predators competing organisms and disease

Question 17

Competition

Answer 17

Often two or more different organisms may compete for the same resources such as food water or light

Question 18

Effects of reducing competition

Answer 18

Reduced competition when a species go extinct can lead to unpredictable events on another species with some benefiting from reduced predication and others benefiting

Question 19

Predator prey cycle

Answer 19

Asked a number of prey animals increases the number of predators increase the predators over predate the prey leading to a fall in prime numbers which causes the number of predators to go down as there is less food the number of prey increases again because you are being eaten

Question 20

Parasitism

Answer 20

A speeding up relationship in which a parasite phase of its host causing harm to the host but normally not killing it

Question 21

Examples of parasites

Answer 21

Please and lead to sucking blood tapeworms living in animals mistletoe burrowing it’s roots into tree branches

Question 22

Mutalism

Answer 22

Organisms that live together in a relationship where both benefit

Question 23

Example of mutalism

Answer 23

Cleaner fish that swim into sharks mouth started without being eating algae that live inside coral polyps gaining shelter and providing food

Question 24

biodiversity

Answer 24

The number of different species living in an area

High biodiversity is good

Question 25

Fish farms

Answer 25

Farms based in water where fish are farmed in pens to reduce the need to catch them in the wild

Question 26

Effect of fish farming on biodiversity

Answer 26

The waste produced by the fish sinks to the sea floor changing the conditions and harming the organisms living there

Question 27

Introduced species

Answer 27

Organisms introduced by humans intentionally or accidentally into a new ecosystem

Question 28

Effect of introduced species on biodiversity

Answer 28

Many introduced species upset natural ecosystems by changing the food web introduced species often lack of predators that can control their numbers

Question 29

Eutrophication

Answer 29

Fertiliser used on farmland gets washed into lakes and rivers by rain it causes algae to grow out of control and when the algae dies it sinks to the bottom of rots which uses of the oxygen in the water

Question 30

Effects of eutrophication on biodiversity

Answer 30

With less oxygen in the water many species die and biodiversity is reduced

Question 31

Importance of biodiversity

Answer 31

Areas with high biodiversity recover more quickly from disasters such as floods and droughts many plants and animals are useful for new medicines and products

Question 32

Endangered

Answer 32

When a species is at risk of dying out usually because it has been over hunted or its habitat has been destroyed

Question 33

Conservation

Answer 33

When an effort is made to protect rare or endangered species or their habitat

Question 34

Importance of conservation

Answer 34

Conservation Can make the difference between a species dying out or surviving it increases biodiversity

Question 35

Reforestation

Answer 35

Planting trees or allowing trees to grow and on old farmland it increases biodiversity by increasing the range of habitats in an area

Question 36

Captive breeding programs

Answer 36

Breeding animals in zoos where they are protected from danger in order to be able to release them into the wild

Question 37

Water cycle

Answer 37

The way in water is continuously moved around different plants of the environment

Question 38

Water cycle stages

Answer 38

``` Precipitation Surface run off Infiltration Evaporation Condensation ```

Question 39

Precipitation

Answer 39

Water falls to the ground as rain snow and hail

Question 40

Surface run off and infiltration

Answer 40

Water soaks into the ground or banned off into streams and rivers into lakes and oceans

Question 41

Evaporation

Answer 41

Water evaporates as water vapour from oceans lakes and rivers

Question 42

Condensation

Answer 42

Water vapour condenses into tiny droplets to form clouds

Question 43

Desalination

Answer 43

Producing portable drinking water from salty water for example by distillation useful in areas of low rainfall

Question 44

Carbon cycle

Answer 44

The way carbon is continuously moved between different stores in the environment

Question 45

Carbon cycle photosynthesis

Answer 45

Carbon is transferred from the carbon dioxide in the air into plants

Question 46

Carbon cycle feeding

Answer 46

Carbon is transferred from plants into animals and from animals into our animals

Question 47

Carbon cycle death and excretion

Answer 47

Carbon is waste and dead bodies is transferred to decomposes or to fossil fuels

Question 48

Carbon cycle respiration

Answer 48

Plants animals and decomposes transfer carbon back to the air as carbon dioxide by respiration

Question 49

Carbon cycle combustion

Answer 49

Humans transfer carbon back to the air by burning fossil fuels

Question 50

Importance of nitrogen

Answer 50

Nitrogen is used to make amino acid’s which are used to make the proteins needed for growth and repair

Question 51

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 51

The way nitrogen is continuously moved between different stores in the environment

Question 52

Nitrogen cycle | Nitrogen fixation

Answer 52

Nitrogen in the air is converted to nitrates in the soil by nitrogen fixing bacteria

Question 53

Nitrogen cycle | Plants

Answer 53

Plants absorb nitrates from the soil and covert then into amino acids and proteins

Question 54

Nitrogen cycle | Feeding

Answer 54

Animals eat plants transferring nitrogen into them in the from of protein.

Question 55

Nitrogen cycle | Death and excretion

Answer 55

Nitrogen in the form of urea and protein is transferred to decomposers in the soil by death and excretion

Question 56

Nitrogen cycle | Decomposers

Answer 56

Decomposers concert nitrogen in urea and proteins into nitrates

Question 57

Nitrogen cycle | Denitrification

Answer 57

Denitrying bacteria in the soil convert nitrates back into nitrogen gas in the air