Gr.9 Bio & Ecology Unit

Name Earth's 4 spheres

atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere

What is an ecosystem?

All interacting parts of a biological community and its environment

What are biotic factors in an ecosystem?

living parts of an ecosystem

What are abiotic factors in an ecosystem?

The non-living factors

(water, light, soil, etc.)

What is a sustainable ecosystem?

An ecosystem which can withstand pressure

What are autotrophs?

Organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis

What are heterotrophs?

Organisms that obtain food by consuming other living things

What is a food chain?

One path in a food web

Trophic levels in a food chain?

primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer

What is a food web?

shows complex feeding relations in an ecosystem

How much energy is being transferred between trophic level?

10%

What is the carbon cycle?

Describes how carbon is taken up and released

What is photosynthesis?

Occurs ONLY in plants. Plants makes glucose from light, carbon dioxide and water (Co₂ to C₆H₁₂O₆)

What is cellular respiration?

Process in which glucose is released as energy of carbon dioxide (C₆H₁₂O₆ to Co₂)

What is climate change?

A change in global or regional climate patterns

What are green house gasses?

Gasses in the Earth's atmosphere which trap heat inside

Evidence of climate change

-Increase in temperature

-Sea level rising

-Irreversible changes to ecosystems

What is the Paris Agreement (2016)?

Aims to keep the rise in the global temperature to less than 2*c above its pre-industrial level

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Nitrogen moves from the air to the soil, into living things, and back into the air

What is ammonification?

Organic nitrogen is decomposed NH₄+ (ammonium)

What is nitrification?

A process that breaks down ammonia into nitrites or nitrates

(NH₄+ to NO₃-)

What is dinitrifacation?

Converting NO₃- back to N₂

What happens to energy that isn't passed down the food chain?

It gets transferred into heat energy

What is biodiversity?

variety and number of organisms in a region