Classifying Living Organisms Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is a species?
Each different type of organism is called a species.
Organisms depend on others for their survival, e.g. Plants need on insects for pollination
What is classification?
The groups into which we put different species. The largest groups are called kingdoms- the plant and animal kingdoms
What is the main difference between plants and animals
Plants make their own food by photosynthesis.
What are the four main plant groups
Mosses - reproduce by spores, thin leaves, no roots or xylem vessels.
Ferns - reproduce by spores
Conifers - reproduce by seeds found in cones, needle shaped leaves
Flowering plants - reproduce using seeds in fruits, large flat leaves, have flowers
What are ecologists?
Scientists who study habitats. They catch organisms using various sampling techniques and use keys and field guides to identify them.
How do ecologists find a size of population
Impossible to count all organisms so they take samples and then estimate total number.
What is a quadrat?
A sampling square to estimate plant populations.
It is places randomly on the ground around the habitat.
The number of plants inside is counted each time.
The more samples, the more reliable estimate it is.
How do ecologists measure physical environmental factors?
They use sensors and data loggers to measure how warm water is and how much oxygen is in the water.
They can then see any links between the factors such as changing temperature and changing oxygen level.
What factors affect the size of a population - 6
- Animals compete for resources e.g. Food, water, shelter
- Plants compete for resources e.g. Light, water, nutrients,
- Lack of resources means decrease in population
4 populations of predators and prey are linked. more prey, more predators because more food. Less prey, less predators as less food. - Harsh weather can reduce populations.
- Disease can kill organisms.
