Sustaining Ecosystems Flashcards
What is an ecosystem
An ecosystem is a community of plants and animals whose lives are closely linked to each other and to the climate and soil of the area in which they grow or live.
What does interdependent mean
That two or more things rely on each other for things such as shelter or food
What components are in an ecosystem
Biotic
Abiotic - like Climate and soils
What is Biomass
The mass, or weight, of living material
What is Litter
Rotting leaves on the ground below growing vegetation
What is Soil
A mixture of weathered rock and organic matter (decomposed plants)
What is surface runoff
It is when water washes the nutrients in the litter away.
What is leaching
It is a loss of nutrients by them dissolving in water.
What is Littering
Dead leaves falling from plants onto the litter.
What is a trophic cascade?
The transfer of energy through different living things
Describe the 4 inputs & outputs in/out of the nutrient cycle
Weathering of parent rock which will add more of it to the soil as it is a key ingredient to soil
Rainfall which adds more nutrients to the litter but to much can cause one of the outputs, surface run-off. Surface run-off is when water washes over the litter taking lots of nutrients into rivers or lakes.
Leaching which is when the nutrients dissolve in water.
What are producers
Producers are plants that get their energy from the sun to carry out photosynthesis
What are primary consumers
Primary consumers are the animals that eat the producers for food, they are herbivores e.g. Cows, pigs
What are secondary consumers
Secondary consumers are the animals that eat the primary consumers for food, they are carnivores e.g. Snakes
What are Tertiary consumers
These are the top carnivores in that biome and will normally eat most animals e.g. wolves
Why is energy lost between the levels of the food chain?
Because animals and plants will use up energy to carry out processes to keep them alive, such as respiration.
What are biomes?
Biomes are natural ecosystems that are found all around the world. At a large scale, these ecosystems are known as biomes.
What does ‘deciduous’ mean
When a plant grows during the summer when the temperature is warm and shed their leaves in winter.
Describe the water cycle in a tropical rainforest
Heavy daily rain is intercepted by the trees in the canopy layer but some reaches the ground.
The trees uptake the water on the ground and the water they caught
This will later evaporate out the leaves after it has been used by the tree.
The evaporated water rises in the sky and forms rain clouds which will and continue the cycle.
What are indigenous people?
People who over thousands of years developed sustainable ways of life in a place like the rainforest or Australia.
In what ways do indigenous people rely on the rainforest?
Food - They hunt, gather and fish in the rainforest with it providing fish or fruit
Timber - They rely on timber to make their homes and boats
Plant materials - They use these to make everyday items such as clothes, rope and oil.
Medicines - These are made from plants found in the rainforest.
What is shifting cultivation
A farming technique
A small area of forest is cleared by chopping down trees and burning them
Seeds are grown in the new clearing. Ash from burning trees adds nutrients to the soil.
Initially the crops grow well but after two or three years the soil loses its fertility.
People move on to another part of the forest and the trees in this clearing grow back
What is the impact of rubber tapping
No negative impact on the forest or on the tree, sustainable.
What is the impact of logging
Mahogany is worth £500 per cubic metre. 1 to 2 mahogany trees grow in a hectare, 1 mahogany tree can damage 28 other trees.
Trees are felled with chainsaws
Mahogany is very valuable and rare
Asian forest is exhausted
