Functioning Ecosystems Flashcards
Sequence and explain transfer, transformation of solar energy into biomass as it flows through biotic component of an ecosystem, including converting light to chemical energy, producing biomass, interacting with components of carbon cycle.
The sun is the source of almost all energy on earth. Its light energy is used by producers, to connect carbon dioxide and water into glucose molecules releasing oxygen gas as waste. This process is called photosynthesis
The glucose produce during photosynthesis is combined with oxygen in the producer’s mitochondria to create chemical energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This process is called cellular respiration and produces carbon dioxide gas and water as waste.
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are inverse reactions, with the products of each reaction being used as the reactants of the other. through these reactions, the sun’s light energy is transformed and eventually released as chemical energy (ATP) to be used for work in the cells of the producer.
Feeding relationships can represented using food chains and food webs that show the relationships between producers and consumers at each trophic level.
A food chain is a simplistic flowchart representing a single series of trophic levels from the sun to producer, through multiple levels of consumers, ending with decomposers.
A food web is a combination of food chains representing more complex feeding relationship between producers and consumers.
Autotrophs use chemical energy or energy from the sun to produce their own food source.
energy passes from one organism to another in trophic levels from producers to higher-order consumers
energy transfer and enegy transformation can be represented in energy flow diagrams and energy pyramids
Analyse and calculate energy transfer and transformations within ecosystems
Transfer: the movement of energy from one object or system to another
Transformation: the change of one from of energy into another.
Construct and analyse simple energy - flow diagram illustrating the movement of energy through ecosystems
Describe transfer and transformation of matter as it cycles through ecosystems
define ecological niche in terms of habitat, feeding relationships and interaction with other species
Ecological niche is a term used to describe the role and requirments of an organism in its habitat. An organism’s
- role encompasses al its interations with biotic and abiotic factorss (i.e. when and how it feeds, reproduces and lives)
- requirements are everything it needs to survive (i.e. food, space, shelter and abiotic variables).
There are two types of ecological niches: the Fundamental niche and the realised niche.
When two species with very similar requirements attempt to fill the same enviroment niche, one species will outcompete the other in a concept called competitive exclusion.
define keystone species and understand the critical role they play in maintaining the structure of a community,
Keystone species: a species that has a disproportionately large effect on the community in which it lives.
Keystone species play a vital role in their communities with ecosystem stability relying on their continued presence.
analyse data to identify a keystone species and predict the outcome of removing the species from an ecosystem
Removal of a keystone species can have a cascading effect on multiple other species and interspecific relationships in a community
understand the competitive exclusion principle
while both species may be adapted and suited to the abiotic and biotic factors of the environment, one species will have a competitive advantage allowing it to succeed and eventually exclude the other. This competitive advantage is gained through superior adaptations to survival requirements such as avoiding predation, finding food, and producing offspring.
define the term carrying capacity
Each community and ecosystem is only able to support a finite number of any one species, due to limitations of space and resources.
explain why carrying capacity of a population is determined by limiting factors
Even in times of plenty, the population of a species cannot grow indefinitely; it will be limited to the carrying capacity imposed by its environment.
calculate population growth rate and change
explain the concept of ecological succession
The process of change in an ecosystem over a long period of time is called succession.
differentiate between the two main modes of succession primary and secondary
Primary succession occurs when a species colonizes a newly formed landscape
secondary succession occurs when there is a disturbance in an established ecosystem.
Identify the features of pioneer species that makes them effective colonisers
pioneer species are the first to colonise a newly formed landscape.
analyse data from the fossil record to observe past ecosystems and changes in biotic and abiotic components
Fossilised remains of once living organisms provide valuable information on adaptations and evolution
Changes in abiotic factors over geological time can be observed by studying fossils.
