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Biology GCSE > Topic 7- Ecology > Flashcards

Topic 7- Ecology Flashcards

1
Q

What is a habitat?

A

The place where an organism lives

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2
Q

What is a population ?

A

All the organisms of one species living in a habitat

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3
Q

What is a community ?

A

The populations of different species living in a habitat

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4
Q

What do plants compete for ?

A

Light

Space

Water

Mineral ions from the soil

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5
Q

What do Animals compete for?

A

Space

Food

Water

Mates

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6
Q

What is interdependence ?

A

When each species depends on other species for things such as

Food

Shelter

Population

Seed dispersal

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7
Q

What are Abiotic factors ?

A

Non living things

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8
Q

Give examples of Abiotic factors ;

A

Moisture level

Light intensity

Temperature

Co2 levels

Wind intensity

Oxygen level

Soil pH

Mineral content

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9
Q

What do changes in the Abiotic environment cause ?

A

Change in

Sizes of population in a community

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10
Q

Give an example of a change in Abiotic factor which will affect a plant population

A

A decrease in light intensity, temperature or CO3 could decrease the rate of photosynthesis in plant species

Preventing growth and causing a decrease in population size

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11
Q

What are Biotic factors

A

Living factors

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12
Q

Give examples of Biotic factors ?

A

New predator arriving

Competition

New pathogen

Availability of food

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13
Q

What can adaptations be?

A

Structural

Behavioural

Functional

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14
Q

What is a structural adaptation ?

A

Feature of an organsims body structure

Shape or colour

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15
Q

What structural adaptation do Artic animals have to help them

A

White fur so they can camaflage in snow.

Helps them avoid prepators and sneak up on prey

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16
Q

What structural adaptation do añilas that live in cold places have?

A

A thick layer of blubber and a low surface area to volume ratio to help them retain heat

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17
Q

What structural adaptation do animals that live in hot places have ?

A

Thin layer of fat and a large surface area to volume ration to help them lose heat

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18
Q

What a behavioural adaptations?

A

Ways in which the organisms behave

They migarate to warmer climates during the winter to avoid the problems of living in cold conditions

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19
Q

What are functional adaptations ?

A

Things that go on inside an organsims bod that can be related to proposed like reproduction and metabolism

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20
Q

What are some microorganisms know as because they are adapted to live in very extreme conditions ?

A

Extremophilee

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21
Q

What do food chains always start with ?

A

A producer

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22
Q

What are producers and how do they make food?

A

Usually green plants are algae that make glucose by photosynthesis

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23
Q

What is biomass?

A

Energy stored in a plant

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24
Q

How is energy transferred in a food chain?

A

It is transferred through living organisms to an ecosystem when organisms eat other organisms

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25
Q

What are producers eaten by?

A

Primary consumers

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26
Q

What are primary consumers eaten by?

A

Secondary consumers

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27
Q

What are secondary consumers eaten by?

A

Tertiary consumers

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28
Q

What are consumers that hunt and kill other animals called?

A

Predators

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29
Q

What are prey?

A

Something a predator eats

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30
Q

What is a population limited by?

A

Food availability

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31
Q

If a population of prey increases what happens to the predators ?

A

They will also increase

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32
Q

What happens if the number of predators increases?

A

The number of prey will decrease

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33
Q

What do environmental changes cause?

A

Distribution of organisms to change

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34
Q

What does a change in distribution mean?

A

A change in where an organism lives

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35
Q

What are the environmental changes that affect organisms ?

A

Temperature

Water availability

Composition of atomospheric gases

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36
Q

Why do materials decay?

A

Because they are broken down by microorganisms

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37
Q

Where and why does decay happen faster ?

A

Warm, moist and aerobic conditions

Due to microorganisms being more active in these types of conditions

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38
Q

What is compost ?

A

Decomposed organic matter

39
Q

What is compost used for ?

A

A natural fertiliser for crops and garden plants

40
Q

What is responsible for decomposition ?

A

Bacteria

Fungi

Detritus feeders

41
Q

What is the rate of decay affected by?

A

Temperature

Water availability

Oxygen availability

Number of decay organisms

42
Q

Why does temperature affect the rate of decay?

A

Warmer temps make decompose quicker due to the increase in the rate of enzymes

Too hot it slowed down because enzymes are destroyed and organisms die

43
Q

Why is water availability a factor that affects the rate of decay?

A

Because decay takes place faster in moist environments because the organisms need water to carry out the biological process

44
Q

What is biogas mainly made up of ?

A

Methane

45
Q

How is bio has made ?

A

In a simple fermenter called a digester or generator

46
Q

Why do biogas generators need to be kept at a constant temperature ?

A

To keep the microorganisms respiring away

47
Q

Why does biogas need to be used straight away ?

A

Because it cannot be stored as a liquid

48
Q

What type of decay produces methane gas ?

A

The one where many microorganisms decay plant and animal waste anareobically

49
Q

What are the two types of biogas generators ?

A

Batch generators

Continuous generators

50
Q

Explain how is batch generator works and on what scale does it produce biogas ?

A

Biogas os produces in small batches

Manually loaded up with waste which is left to digest and the by products are cleared away at the end of each session

51
Q

How does a continuous generator work and how much biogas is made?

A

It makes biogas all the time

Waste is continuous fed in and biogas is produced at a stead rate

Mostly used for large scale biogas projects

52
Q

What do both generators have to have?

A

An inlet for ware material to be put in

An outlet for the digested material to be removed from

An outlet so that the biogas can be piped to where it is needed

53
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The variety of different species of organisms on earth or within an ecosystem

54
Q

Why is high biodiversity important?

A

B cause it makes sure that ecosystems are stable because different species depend on each other for things like shelter and food

55
Q

What human actions are reducing bio diversity ?

A

Waste production

Deforestation

Global warming

56
Q

What increasing demands are humans making on the environment ?

A

Population is rising so we need resources to survive

People want a high standard of living so more raw materials are being used so one day we will run out before we expect

57
Q

How is water being polluted by waste ?

A

Sewage and toxic chemicals are polluting lakes, rivers and oceans which affects animals and humans which rely on them for survival

58
Q

How is the air being polluted by waste?

A

Smoke and acidic gases released into the atmosphere polluted it

59
Q

Why have breeding programmes been set up?

A

To help prevent endangered species from becoming extinct

60
Q

What are breading programmes?

A

Where animals are bread in captivity to make sure the species survives if it dies out in the wild

61
Q

What are habitat protection programmes and what do they do?

A

Programmes to protect and regenerate rare habitats

Protecting the habitantes helps to protect the species that live there preserving the ecosystem and biodiversity in the area

62
Q

What are the global warming programmes ?

A

Programmes that the government have introduced to reduce the level of deforestation takin place and the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by business

63
Q

What are the factors that are preventing maintaining biodiversity?

A

Cost of programmes

The effect on the local economy

Protecting food security

Development of society

64
Q

Give an example of how the effects on the local economy is reducing biodiversity to be maintained ?

A

It may come at a cost to local people’s livelihoods

When u reduce the amount of deforestation people that cut down trees become out of a job

The local economy will be effect if people have to move elsewhere to find a job

65
Q

How is development of society an effect for the environment?

A

Many people want to protect biodiversity on the face of development but sometimes land is in such high demand that previously untouched land with high diodiversity has to be used for development

66
Q

What are trophic levels ?

A

Different stages of a food chain which consist of one or more organisms that perform a specific role in the food chain

67
Q

What does Trophic level 1 contain?

A

Produces that are the starting point by

68
Q

What does Trophic level 2 contain ?

A

Primary consumers

Which are herbivores because they eat plants and algae

69
Q

What do herbivores eat?

A

Plants and algae

70
Q

What does Trophic level 3 contain?

A

Secondary consumers which are also known as carnivores

71
Q

What do carnivores eat?

A

Meat

72
Q

What does Trophic level 4 contain?

A

Tertiary consumers

Carnivores that eat other carnivores

73
Q

What are carnivores that have no predators also know as?

A

Apex predators

74
Q

How do decomposes play an important role in ecosystems ?

A

Because the decompose any dead plants or animal material left in an environment

They do this by decreasing enzymes that break the dead stuff down into small soluble food molecules.

They then diffuse into microorganisms

75
Q

What happens to the energy and biomass every time you move up the food chain?

A

It reduces

76
Q

What are the reasons as to why biomass is lost between the levels ?

A
  • every single part of the organism is not consumed so all energy is not passed
  • organism don’t all of the stuff in the food they ingest
  • some of the biomass taken in is converted into other substance that are lost as ware
77
Q

How do you calculate efficiency of biomass transfers ?

A

Efficiency = biomass transferred to the next level (divided by) biomass available at the previous level x100

78
Q

What is food security ?

A

Having enough food to feed a population

79
Q

What are the things that threaten food security ?

A
  • Population increase
  • diet changes -> some foods many be needed on even bigger scales
  • farming affect by new pests and pathogens -> decrease in crops and livestock
  • high input costs of farming -> hard for people to afford in developing countries
  • conflict -> kills food and water availability
80
Q

What does sustainable production mean?

A

Making enough food without using resources faster than they renew

81
Q

What are the 2 ways in which fish stocks can be maintained ?

A

Fishing quotas - they put limits on the number and size of fish that can be caught in a certain area preventing species from being overfished

Net sizes - limits on the Size to reduce the number of unwanted fish -> also allowing younger fish to slip through big nets so they can bread

82
Q

What makes farming more efficient and how does this happen?

A

Limiting the movement of livestock and keeping them in temp controlled environment reduces the transfer of energy from livestock to the environment

83
Q

How can livestock be farmed to make food production more efficient ?

A

Factory farmed in small pens

84
Q

Where can fish be farmed to make food production more efficient?

A

Factory farmed in cages so they have restricted movement

85
Q

What are factory farmed chickens called ?

A

Battery chickens

86
Q

Why are factory farming methods controversial ?

A

Because animals are kept so close together that disease can be spread between them easily

87
Q

What are the ethical objections against factory farming ?

A

You are making the animal love in unatural and uncomfortable conditions which is cruel

88
Q

What is genetic engineering?

A

Transferring a useful gene from on organisms to another

89
Q

What is bacteria genetically engineered to make ?

A

Human insulin

90
Q

What is mycoprotein used to make ?

A

High protein meat substitutes for vegeterians

91
Q

What is mycoprotein made from?

A

Fungus Fusarium which is grown in aerobic conditions on glucose syrup which it uses as a food

92
Q

What is fungal biomass used to make and how does it do this?

A

It is harvested and purified to produce mycoprotein

93
Q

How could biotechnology help developed countries ?

A

GM crops can be produced which are resistant to bacteria which would lead to more crops being harvested

GM crops to grow better in droughts

GM crops to provide more nutritional value

94
Q

Why do people not agree with biotechnology?

A

Because they think people go Hungry because they cannot afford no because there is not food

People fear that a country may depend on GM food

The soil is poor so GM crops will not survive

Biology GCSE (3 decks)

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