Ecology Flashcards
(118 cards)
1
Q
Habitat
A
Place where an organism lives
2
Q
Population
A
All the organisms of one species living in one habitat
3
Q
Community
A
The populations of different species living in a habitat
4
Q
abiotic factors
A
Non loving factors of the environment
5
Q
Biotic factors
A
living factors in the environment
6
Q
Ecosystem
A
The interaction of a community of living organisms with the non living parts of their environment
7
Q
What do plants need to survive and reproduce?
A
Light, space, water and mineral ions from the soil
8
Q
What do animals need to survive and reproduce?
A
Territory, food, water and mates
9
Q
Interdependence
A
When species depend on each other for things such as food,shelter,pollination and seed dispersal
10
Q
What happens if there are major changes in an interdependent ecosystem?
A
There can be far reaching effects
11
Q
Stable communities
A
All the species and environmental factors are in balance so that the population sizes are roughly constant
12
Q
Examples of stable communities
A
Tropical rainforests and ancient oak woodlands
13
Q
Abiotic factors examples
A
- Moisture level
14
Q
What causes an increase or decrease in an abiotic factor.
A
Change on the environment
15
Q
What can be affected due to changes in abiotic factors?
A
Size of populations in a community and also affect population sizes of other organisms that depend on them
16
Q
Biotic factor examples
A
-new predators
17
Q
What can cause an introduction of a new biotic factor.
A
Change in environment
18
Q
Change in biotic factors
A
Leads to change in size of populations in community’s which can have knock on effects because of interdependence
19
Q
Adaptations
A
Features or characteristics that allow organisms to live in different environmental conditions
20
Q
Structural adaptations
A
physical features of an organism such as shape or colour
21
Q
structural adaptation example
A
Arctic animals like the arctic fox have white fur so they’re camouflaged against the snow. This helps them avoid predators and sneak up on prey.
22
Q
Behavioural adaptation
A
The ways that an organism behaves that enable it to survive and reproduce. For example, migration ener species move to warmer climates during the winter to avoid problems living in the cold
23
Q
Functional Adaptation
A
Things that go on inside an organism’s body that can be related to processes like reproduction & metabolism
24
Q
Example of functional adaptation
A
Desert animals conserve water by producing very little sweat and small amounts of concentrated urine.
25
extremophiles
Microorganisms that are adapted to live in extreme environents
26
food chain
A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
27
How do food chains start?
With the producer
28
Producer
Make their own food using energy form the sun. Usually green plants or algae, make glucose by photosynthesis. Some of this glucose is used to make other biological molecules in the plant. These are the plants biomass
29
Biomass of plants
Energy stored in a plants
30
food chain process
producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer
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Predators
Consumers that eat and kill other animals
32
Prey
An organism that is killed and eaten by another organism
33
What happens in a stable community that contains prey and predators?
1) the population of any species is usually limited by the amount of food available.
34
Why are predators-prey cycles always out of phase?
It takes a while for one population to respond to changes in the other population
35
Ways to study the distribution of an organism
1) Measure how common an organism is in two sample areas & compare them - using quadrats
36
Quadrat
a square frame enclosing a known area
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quadrat practical
1. place a 1 m2 quadrat on the ground at a random point within the first sample area. You could do this by dividing the sample area into a grid and using a random number generator to pick coordinates to place your quadrats at. This will help to make sure that the results you get are representative of the whole sample area.
38
How to work out population size
Work out the mean number of organisms per m2 then multiply by the total area of the habitat
39
Transects distribution practical
1)Mark out a line in the area you want to study using a tape measure.
40
How to estimate the percentage cover of a quadrat
1) count the number of squares covered by organism A
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What can environmental changes cause?
the distribution of organisms to change
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3 environmental changes that can affect organisms
-a change in the availability of water
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A change in the availability of water
the distribution of some animal and plant species in the tropics changes between the wet and dry seasons
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change in temperature
The distribution of species due to changes in temperature
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A change in the composition of atmospheric gases
The distribution of some species changes in areas where there is more air pollution
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What causes environmental changes?
Seasonal factors,geographic factors or human interaction
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water cycle
Energy from the sun makes water evaporate from the land and sea, turning it into water vapour. Water also evaporates from plants- this is known as transpiration.
48
Why do materials decay?
They are broken down (digested) by microorganisms
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What speeds up decay?
Warm,moist,aerobic conditions because microorganisms are more active in these conditions.
50
What does decay do?
put the things that plants need to grow back into the soil
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Carbon Cycle Steps
CO2 is removed form the atmosphere by green plants and algae during photosynthesis. The carbon is used to make glucose, which can be turned into carbohydrates, fats and proteins that make up the bodies of the plants and algae
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Compost
decomposed organic matter that is used as a a natural fertiliser for crops and garden plants
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Factors that affect rate of decay
1. Temperature- Warmer temperatures make things decompose quicker because they increase the rate that the enzymes involved in decomposition work at. But too hot and the enzymes denature
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Biogas
Mainly made up of methane which is burned as a fuel also microorganisms . Made in a simple fermenter called a digester or generator
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Why do biogas generators need to be kept at a constant temperature?
To keep the microorganisms respiring
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Why can't biogas be stored as a liquid?
As it need very high pressures so it has to be used straight away
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uses of biogas
Heating
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two types of biogas generators
Batch generators and continuous generators
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Batch generators
make biogas in small batches. They're manually loaded up with waste, which is left to digest, and the by-products are cleared away at the end of each session
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Continuous generators
make biogas all the time. Waste is continuously fed in, and biogas is produced at a steady rate. Continuous generators are more suited to large-scale biogas projects.
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What things does a simple biogas generator need?
1) an inlet for waste material to be put in
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Decay practical
1. Measure out 5cm3 of lipase solution and add it to a test tube. Lapel tube with an 'L'
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Biodiversity
Variety of different species of organisms on earth or within an ecosystem
64
Why is high biodiversity important?
Ensures that ecosystems are stable because different species depend on each other for shelter, food etc
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What reduces biodiversity?
human activities
66
Why is population increasing?
modern medicine and farming methods have reduced the number of people dying due to disease and hunger
67
What effects does in reading population have on the environment?
More raw materials used
68
How does pollution affect water?
sewage and toxic chemicals from industry can pollute lakes, rivers and oceans, affecting the plants and animals that rely on them for survival
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How does pollution affect the land?
We use toxic chemicals for farming. We also bury nuclear waste underground, and we dump a lot of household waste in landfill sites.
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How does pollution affect the air?
Smoke and acidic gases released into the atmosphere can pollute the air - e.g. sulgur dioxide causes acid rain
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greenhouse effect
Atmosphere absorbs most of the radiation form the sun and re radiate it in all directions which causes the temperature of the planet to increase
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main greenhouse gases
Carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane
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Global warming
A type of climate change and causes other types of climate change
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consequences of global warming
1) Higher temperatures cause seawater to expand & ice to melt, thus increasing the sea level - if it rises too much, it can cause flooding & destroy habitats
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What do humans use land for?
Building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste
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deforestation
The cutting down of forests
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Why are trees cut down?
Clear land for farming to provide more food
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Problems of deforestation - less CO2 taken in
Cutting down lots of trees means less CO2 is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis
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Problems of Deforestation - More CO2 in the Atmosphere
CO2 is released when trees are burnt to clear land
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Problems of Deforestation - Less Biodiversity
Habitats like forests can contain a huge number of different species of plants & animals, so when they're destroyed there is a danger of many species becoming extinct
81
Peat bogs
-Bogs are acidic and waterlogged areas of land
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Breeding programmes for endangered species
-help prevent endangered species from becoming extinct
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Programmes to protect and regenerate rare habitats
Protecting these habitats helps to protect the species that live there - preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in that area
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Programmes to reintroduce hedge grows and field margins
Field margins are areas of lands around the edges of fields where wild flowers and grasses are left to grow. Hedge grows and field margins provide a habitat for a wider variety of organisms than could survive in a single crop habitat.
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What has the government introduced to reduce global warming?
Regulations and programmes to reduce the level of deforestation taking place and the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by businesses
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What are people encouraged to do to reduce the amount of land taken over for landfill?
Recycle and reduce the amount of waste
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Conflicting pressures on maintaining biodiversity
1. Costs money eg: subsidies, surveillance. It also can cost money to keep a watch on whether programmes designed to maintain biodiversity are being followed. Can be conflict between protecting biodiversity and saving money
88
Tropic levels
different levels of the food chain that consist of one or more organisms that performs specific role in the food chain
89
How are trophic levels named?
Fist level is called trophic level 1 and every level after that is numbered in order based on how far along the food chain the organisms in the food chain are
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Trophic Level 1: Producers
Producers are the organisms at the beginning of the food chain. They make their own food by photosynthesis using the suns energy
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Trophic Level 2: Primary Consumers
Herbivores that eat the plants and algae are primary consumers. Herbivores only eat plants and algae
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Trophic Level 3: Secondary Consumers
Carnivores that eat primary consumers are called secondary consumers. They are meat eaters.
93
Trophic Level 4: Tertiary Consumers
Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers. These are carnivores that have no predators so they're always highest in the trophic levels. Also known as apex predators
94
Decomposes
bacteria and fungi which decompose any dead plant or animal material left in the environment. They do this by secreting enzymes that break down the dead stuff into small soluble food molecules which then diffuse into microorganisms
95
What does each bar on a pyramid of biomass represent?
The relative mass of living material at each trophic level in a food chain
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What is the largest bar in a pyramid of biomass?
Trophic levels 1 or producers
97
how to draw a pyramid of biomass
the biomass at each stage should be drawn to scale, if given actual numbers use them to draw bars of the correct scale
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What is the source of energy for all living beings?
The sun
99
Biomass transfer
Transferred through a food chain in an ecosystem where organisms eat other organisms, however not much biomass gets transferred from one trophic to another only about 10 percent.
100
How is biomass lost?
- organisms don't always eat every single part o the organism that they are consuming - e.g. some material that makes up plants and animals is inedible: bone
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Efficiency of biomass transfer
biomass transferred to next level/biomass available at previous level *100
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Food security
Having enough food to feed a population
103
Factors that affect food security
1) Increasing population & birth rate
104
Why are fish stocks declining?
overfishing
105
Why is overfishing a problem?
Affects the oceans food chain and some species of ish may disappear altogether in some areas
106
How are fish stocks maintained?
Fishing quotas, net size
107
Fishing quotas
Limits on the number and size of fish that can be caught in certain areas. This prevents certain species being overfished
108
Net size
Different limits of the mesh size depending on what's being caught to reduce the number of unwanted and discarded fish. Using a bigger mech will let the unwanted species escape
109
How to reduce transfer of energy from livestock to the environment?
Limiting the movement of livestock and keeping them in temperature controlled environments
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Why is limiting movement of livestock efficient for farming?
As animals use less energy moving around and controlling their own body temp. This means more energy is available for growth so more food can be produced from the same input resources.
111
Efficient farming
Livestock can be factory farmed, involves rising them in pens
112
Why are some farming methods controversial?
Beacuse the animals are kept so close together disease can spread easily between them. Also ethical obligations as some think it's unnatural,uncomfortable
113
Mycoprotein
food from fungi used to make high protein meat substitutes
114
What is mycoprotein made from?
The fungus Fusarium which is grown in aerobic conditions on glucose syrup, which it uses as food, they are made in large vats.
115
Genetic engineering
Transferring a useful gene form one organism to another
116
How can bacteria be genetically engineered to make insulin?
1)a plasmid is removed from bacterium
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genetically modified crops
Can be produced to make crops resistant to pests
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Why don't people agree with genetically modified crops?
The issue is poverty not food scarcity
