Echology And The Environment

Question 1

What does a food chain show us?

Answer 1

Which organisms eat others organisms, whilst also showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next

Question 2

What does a producer do?

Answer 2

Starts the food chain, produces own food by photosynthethis

Question 3

What is a primary consumer?

Answer 3

Herbivore, feeds of prey

Question 4

What is a secondary consumer?

Answer 4

Carnivore, prey, predator

Question 5

What is a tertiary consumer?

Answer 5

Carnivore, predator

Question 6

What is a tropic level?

Answer 6

Stage in the food chain (eg. Producer)

Question 7

What is meant by the term population?

Answer 7

Number of 1 species

Question 8

What do pyramids of number show us?

Answer 8

The number of organisms in each tropic level of a food chain

Question 9

What do ecological pyramids start with?

Answer 9

The producer on the bottom bar

Question 10

What does a pyramid of biomass show us?

Answer 10

The total mass of biological (living) material of the organisms in each trophic level

Question 11

What is biomass lost as and how is it released?

Answer 11

It’s lost as energy in respiration as heat to the surroundings

Question 12

Why is biomass lost?

Answer 12

Some of the food is not eaten (roots, bones etc)

Question 13

What form is biomass realised in?

Answer 13

Urine and faeces (excretion, egestion)

Question 14

How do biotic factors and abiotic factors influence an ecosystem?

Answer 14

They influence the numbers and distribution of organisms in an ecosystem

Question 15

What are some examples of things biotic?

Answer 15

Amount of prey, disease, preditation, amount of mates

Question 16

What are some examples of things abiotic?

Answer 16

Rainfall, temperature, oxygen content, soil condition

Question 17

What is sampling?

Answer 17

A way of taking measurements from a small area which are representative of a larger area

Question 18

How do you make estimates for a larger area when sampling?

Answer 18

Scale up the sample

Question 19

What is used to take a sample of plants or animals?

Answer 19

A quadrat (square frame enclosing on a known area)

Question 20

Where is carbon found?

Answer 20

In all main biological molecules

Question 21

What makes up lipids?

Answer 21

Fatty acids and glycerol

Question 22

What forms proteins?

Answer 22

Amino acids by joining together

Question 23

What joins to make carbohydrates?

Answer 23

Monosaccharides (sugars)

Question 24

What are examples of all main biological molecules?

Answer 24

Lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, DNA

Question 25

What is the carbon cycle?

Answer 25

The cycling of carbon between environment and organisms

Question 26

What are the key processes involved in the carbon cycle?

Answer 26

Photosynthesis and respiration

Question 27

What does decomposition in the carbon cycle consist of?

Answer 27

Microorganisms called decompressors that digest waste and dead organisms

Question 28

What microorganisms are used in decomposition?

Answer 28

Bacteria and fungi

Question 29

What do carbon compounds in dead waste material turn into?

Answer 29

Carbon dioxide in the air

Question 30

What is the meaning of the term community?

Answer 30

A group of different populations of organisms that live in the same habitat

Question 31

What does the term habitat mean?

Answer 31

The place where organism lives

Question 32

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 32

A community of animals, plants, micro-organisms or non-living things and their shared environment

Question 33

Why is only about 10% of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next?

Answer 33

Most of the energy is lost as heat to the environment

Question 34

What effect is the increase of human population having on the environment?

Answer 34

Reducing biodiversity (no. of different species in an area) and increasing air and water pollution

Question 35

What are the greenhouse gases?

Answer 35

CO2, methane, Nitrogen oxide, CFC’s, Water vapour

Question 36

What will an increase in greenhouse gases cause?

Answer 36

More global warming

Question 37

How does the surface of the earth heat up therefore causing global warming?

Answer 37

Greenhouse gases are trapped in the atmosphere reflecting radiation back to the earth

Question 38

What are the physical effects of global warming on the planet?

Answer 38

Melting of polar ice caps —> rise in sea levels, changes in rainfall —> flooding/drought, extinction of species

Question 39

What can burning fossil fuels create?

Answer 39

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which dissolve in rainwater to form acid rain

Question 40

What effect will acid rain have on planet life?

Answer 40

Damages leaves leading to less photosynthesis and a change of PH in the soil affecting growth

Question 41

What effect does acid rain have on aquatic life

Answer 41

Acidification of water damaging aquatic animals and plants

Question 42

What concentration is nitrate found in?

Answer 42

Low

Question 43

What are nitrates important for?

Answer 43

Building amino acids and protein for growth

Question 44

What happens to plants with low availability of nitrates?

Answer 44

Stunted growth

Question 45

Why do farmers add fertilisers to crops?

Answer 45

Nitrates in them improve the soil fertility

Question 46

What happens to excess artificial fertilisers?

Answer 46

They’re washed out of the soil by rain (leaching) and run into rivers, streams and lakes

Question 47

What can leaching lead to?

Answer 47

Eutrophication

Question 48

What is the first stage of eutrophication?

Answer 48

Inorganic fertilisers used of fields are leached into nearby rivers, lakes and streams

Question 49

What is the second stage of eutrophication?

Answer 49

Increased concentration of mineral ions stimulates growth of aquatic plants, rapid growth of algae on surface of water (algal bloom)

Question 50

What is the third stage of eutrophication?

Answer 50

Increased growth causes overcrowding for many plants, algal bloom blocks light from plants at bottom of water and prevents photosynthesis

Question 51

What is the fourth stage of eutrophication?

Answer 51

Many of the plants die and aerobic bacteria decomposes the plant material, using up the oxygen in the water

Question 52

What is the fith stage of eutrophication?

Answer 52

Low oxygen content, fish and other organisms die, water becomes anoxic (only anaerobic organisms survive)