Year 11 Module 3: IQ 3.1 Flashcards
(22 cards)
What are abiotic factors?
Non-living things such as sunlight, temperature, rainfall, wind, and available minerals in the soil.
Abiotic factors are unevenly distributed through an ecosystem.
Define biotic factors.
Living things, including the plants and animals that an organism interacts with.
Biotic factors are crucial for understanding ecological interactions.
What is biodiversity?
The variety of all life forms on earth, important for balancing ecosystems.
Monitoring biodiversity allows prediction of future changes.
What is an ecosystem?
The interaction of living things with each other and their non-living environment.
Ecosystems consist of various species living together.
What does ecology study?
The interrelationships of organisms with each other and the environment, determining their distribution and abundance.
Ecology is essential for understanding ecosystem dynamics.
What is the definition of habitat?
The place where an organism lives.
What does distribution refer to in ecology?
The region where an organism is found.
What does abundance refer to?
The number of organisms in an area.
What is speciation?
The process by which a new kind of plant or animal species is created.
This occurs when a group within a species separates and develops unique characteristics.
What are selection pressures?
External forces affecting an organism’s ability to survive in a given environment.
List types of biotic selection pressures.
- Predators
- Disease
- Presence of a food source
- Availability of mates
- Competition
List types of abiotic selection pressures.
- Temperature
- Wind
- Climate
- Sunlight
- Rainfall
- Soil composition
- Natural disasters
- Pollution
How do selection pressures affect evolutionary fitness?
They may favor certain individuals in a species, making them more likely to survive and reproduce.
What is the effect of predators on prey populations?
Predators affect the distribution and abundance of their prey, serving as a natural means of population control.
What happens to predator populations when prey is abundant?
Predator populations increase as prey availability rises.
What is the short-term effect of competition between species?
A decrease in population numbers of one or both competing species.
How does symbiosis contribute to ecosystems?
It contributes to biodiversity, development of new species, and new capabilities for organisms.
What is a pathogen?
A disease-causing organism such as a bacterium or virus.
How does disease affect ecosystems?
It alters the balance of food webs, impacting predators, prey, and humans.
Fill in the blank: The biosphere is the part of the earth that contains _______.
living things.
Provide an example of a population change due to selection pressures.
Cane toads in Australia.
What is the effect of food availability on species populations?
An increase in food leads to an increase in species size; a decrease in food leads to a decrease in size.
