Ecosystems Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is an ecosystem?
Ecosystem is a natural environment that includes ‘abiotic’ and ‘biotic’ elements that live and interact with each other and their physical environment
What is flora?
Plants
What is fauna?
Animals
What is abiotic?
Nonliving elements of an ecosystem e.g. climate, temperature, water and soil type
What is biotic?
Living elements of an ecosystem
What is climate?
Long-term average weather conditions of a particular place or region
What is a food chain?
A sequence of feeding relationships between organisms showing which organism eat what
What are producers?
Plants that begin food chains by making energy from carbon dioxide and water through photosynthesis
What are consumers?
An organism that obtains it’s energy by eating other organisms
What is a decomposer?
Organism which eats dead organisms e.g. fallen leaves, animal droppings
Give examples of how ecosystems can change due to natural factors
- Droughts
- Floods
- Fires
- Disease
Give examples of how ecosystems can change due to human management
- Introducing more fish
- Altering the drainage of the land which may influence the amount of water
- Changing the pH level of the water
- Altering the nutrients level of the water
