Ecology Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is an ecosystem?
The interaction of a community of living organisms with the nonliving parts of their environment
For organisms to survive and reproduce what do they have to do?
Require a supply of materials from the surroundings and from the other living organisms there
What do you plants in the community or habitat often compete for?
Light, space, water
What do animals compete for?
food, mates, territory
What is interdependence?
Within the community each species depends on other species of food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal et. If one species is removed it can affect the whole community
What is an example of a stable community?
Where all the species and environmental factors are balanced so that the population sizes remain fairly constant
What is abiotic?
Nonliving
What is biotic?
Living
What Abiotic factors affect the community?
Light intensity, temperature, moisture levels, soil pH in mineral content, wind intensity and direction, carbon dioxide levels are plants, oxygen levels for aquatic animals
What biotic factors affect a community?
Availability of food, new predators arriving, new pathogens, one species outcompeting another
What are adaptations?
Features that enable them to survive in the conditions in which they normally live
What three things can adaptations be?
Structural, behavioural or functional
What are extremophiles?
Organisms that live in environments that are very extreme, such as high temperature, pressure, or salt concentration
What is an example of a extremophile?
Bacteria living in deep sea vents
What happens to all materials in the living world?
They are a recycled to provide the building blocks for the future organisms
What is the carbon cycle?
Returns carbon from organisms to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide to be used by plants in photosynthesis
What is the water cycle?
Provides fresh water for plants and animals on land before draining into the seas. Water is continuously evaporated and precipitated
What is biodiversity?
The variety of all the different species of organisms on earth, or within an ecosystem
What does a great biodiversity insure?
The stability of ecosystems by reducing the dependence of one species on another for food, shelter and the maintenance of the physical environment
What does a rapid growth of the human population and increase in standard of living mean?
Increasingly more resources are used and more waste produced
What are the 3 ways pollution can occur?
Water, air, land
What does pollution do?
Kills plants and animals which can reduce biodiversity
How do humans reduce the amount of land available for other animals?
Building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste
What does the destruction of peat bogs mean?
Reduces the area of this habitat and thus the variety of the different plant, animal and microorganism species that live there
