Ecology

0.0(0)
studied byStudied by 0 people
learnLearn
examPractice Test
spaced repetitionSpaced Repetition
heart puzzleMatch
flashcardsFlashcards
Card Sorting

1/26

encourage image

There's no tags or description

Looks like no tags are added yet.

Study Analytics
Name
Mastery
Learn
Test
Matching
Spaced

No study sessions yet.

27 Terms

1
New cards

Habitat

The place where an organism lives

2
New cards

Population

All the organisms of one species in a habitat

3
New cards

Community

All the different species in a habitat

4
New cards

Ecosystem

All the organisms living in a particular area and all the non-living conditions

5
New cards

Abiotic factors

Environmental factors that are not living

6
New cards

Abiotic factor examples

  • Light intensity

  • Humidity

  • Temperature

  • Pollution

  • Air quality

  • Climate change

7
New cards

Biotic factors

Relating or as a result of living organisms

8
New cards

Biotic factor examples

  • Introduction of species

  • Parasites and diseases

  • Removal of predators

  • Competition between organisms

  • Availability of food

9
New cards

Quadrats

A square frame enclosing in a known area

10
New cards

How to use quadrats to compare population size of an organism in two sample areas

  1. Place the quadrat on the ground at a random point in the first sample area, it can be done by dividing the sample area into girds and using a random number generator to pick the coordinate where the quadrat will go to, this makes results representative

  2. Count all organisms that you are studying that are inside the quadrat

  3. Repeat step 1 and 2 multiple times

  4. Work out the mean number of organisms per quadrat within the first sample area

  5. Repeat steps 1-4 in the second sample area

  6. Compare the two means

11
New cards

Mean formula

Total number of organisms/Number of quadrats placed

12
New cards

Estimating population size from a small sample area

  • Find the mean number of organisms per metre squared

  • Multiply this number by the total area in metre squared of the habitat

13
New cards

Pyramids of numbers

  • They show the number of organisms at the stage of the food chain

  • The more organisms there are, the longer the bar

  • Normally as you go up trophic levels, the number of organisms goes down as it takes a lot of food from the level below to keep one animal alive

  • It will not always look like a pyramid

14
New cards

Pyramids of biomass

  • Each bar shows the mass of living material at that stage of the food chain

  • How much all the organisms at each level would weigh if you put them all together

  • It will always have the right shape

15
New cards

Pyramids of energy transfer

  • Shows the energy transferred to each trophic level in a food chain

  • Always the right shape, a regular pyramid

16
New cards

Where is energy sourced from?

The Sun, it provides energy for nearly all life on Earth

17
New cards

What plants use sunlight for

Plants use sunlight to make food during photosynthesis and the energy will continue to go around the food chain as animals eat plants and each other

18
New cards

Energy transfer between trophic levels

  • Not all energy is able to pass to the next trophic level, around 90% is lost in various ways

  • Most of this energy is eventually transferred to the surroundings by heat

  • Only around 10% of the total energy available becomes biomass for storage or growth

  • This is the energy that gets transferred from one trophic level to the next

  • Energy that does get taken in is for staying alive, like respiration

19
New cards

Indigestible parts

  • Some parts of food like roots or bones don’t get eaten so energy there isn’t taken in, some parts are indigestible so they come out as waste

20
New cards

Sulphur dioxide

Released from burning fossil fuels and when dissolved in rain water, it creates sulphuric acid that forms acid rain

21
New cards

Acid rain

  • Kills trees and damages leaves, releasing toxic substances from the soil that stops minerals from being absorbed

  • This also acidifies the water in lakes which kills many plants and animals sensitive to pH

22
New cards

Carbon Monoxide CO

  • Happens during incomplete combustion

  • CO binds with haemoglobin so it cannot transport oxygen which slowly kills your body

  • Comes from car emissions

23
New cards

Greenhouse gases

  • Water vapour

  • Carbon dioxide

  • Methane

  • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)

  • Nitrous oxide

24
New cards

Greenhouse gas

Traps energy from the Sun in the atmosphere, without them, we would get very cold without any heat

25
New cards

Human activity on global warming

Human activity on global warming

  • Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide, CFC’s and nitrous oxide

  • This causes rising sea levels, habitat loss and extreme weather

26
New cards

Autotrophs

Organisms that can produce their own food or can self-feed

27
New cards

Heterotrophs

Organisms that eat other things to obtain energy and protein