Impacts On Outdoor Environments Flashcards
(35 cards)
Will there ever be more anger in earth than there is now?
No
How does water get cleaned?
Through the natural process of the water cycle
What are the stages of the water cycle?
- evaporation
- condensation
- precipitation
- transpiration
- infiltration
- run off
What is evaporation?
The process of a liquids surface changing into a gas
What does liquid water evaporate and become?
Water vapour
What causes evaporation in nature?
The sunlight
Why is condensation crucial?
Because it forms clouds
What is precipitation?
Water released from clouds in the form of rain, hail or snow
What is the primary source of water returning to the ground?
Precipitation
What is transpiration?
The discharge of water into the atmosphere from the leaves or stems of plants
What is infiltration?
The process by which water or precipitation soaks into subsurface soils and moves into rocks
What is run off?
Run off is precipitation that does not get infiltrated into the soil, it makes its way to places where water collects
What is a producer?
Occurs at the first level and captures sunlight to convert into chemical energy through photo synthesis
What are the major producers on land?
Plants
What are the major producers in aquatic environments?
Algae and certain types of bacteria
What are consumers?
Animals that use the bodies of other organisms as a fuel source
What is a primary consumer?
Herbivore
What is a tertiary or secondary consumer?
Carnivore or omnivore
What is a decomposer?
Decomposers break down organic material and use decomposed products such as nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium to supply themselves wth energy
Why do we need decomposers?
If there were no decomposers important elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium would be left in the remains of dead organisms
Each level or link in a food chain or web is known as
A trophic level
What happens when an organism is removed from a food chain or web?
- disrupt energy flow
- limit food source for predators
- lead to imbalance
- reduce biodiversity
- habitat disruption
What is the difference between a food chain and web?
A food chain is very simple whereas a food web is much more complicated and has a number of interconnected food chains from which energy flows through
What is the positive of a food web?
Creates more stability by having more links between producers and consumers
