2.3 ecology

• Producer

  Organism that make its own food (plants)
• Apex predator is organism at the top of the food chain
• Habitat

  Place where organism live
• Population

  All the organism of one species living in a habitat
• Community

  All the organism of different species living in a habitat
• Abiotic factor is non living factors of the environment
• Biotic factor is living factors of the environment
• Abiotic factor includes temperature, light intensity, soil pH, availability of oxygen and wind intensity and direction.
• Biotic factor include availability of food, competition, new predators and new pathogen or parasites
• Interdependence is that in a community, each species depend on other species for things such as food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal.
• Competition for resources is where organism compete with other species for the same resources.
• What is a Quadrat?


  Square frame used to sample ecosystems
• what is a transect?


  It’s a line which we place Quadrats to measure species distribution
• how do you take random sampling?

  1. divide area under a grid
  2. pick squares using a random number generator (10% of area)
  3. Place Quadrat at coordinate
  4. count individuals
  5. calculate mean (per metre squared)
  6. multiply mean by total area to get an estimate
• what is adaptation?


  adaptation is a feature of an organism that helps it to survive
• how does adaptation help for organisms?


  adaptations help individuals to compete (and beat) other organisms to desired resources
• what are the three types of adaptation?

  1. structural adaptation
  2. behavioural adaptation
  3. functional adaptation
• What is structural adaptation?


  features of an organisms body structure, such as shape or colour

  Eg. White fur of an arctic fox
• what is behavioural adaptation?

  the ways an organism behaves

  Eg. desert fox hunting at night
• what is functional adaptation?


  things that go on inside an organisms body

  Eg. birds have hollow bones to make them lighter)
• What is extremophiles?


  organisms that live in very extreme environments like temperature, pH or chemical concentration
• Examples of extremophiles

  thermophiles (Pompeii Worms)

  cryophiles (Antarctic kril)

  tardigrades ( “moss piglets”)
• An ecosystem is the interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) with the non-living (abiotic) parts of their environment
• what Is a food chain?


  Food chains show whats eaten by what in an ecosystem. Always start with a producer
• what is a food web?


  Food web is made when multiple food chains are connected to each other.
• Example of food chain

  Prey/ producer $\rightarrow\ predator$
• Predator-prey cycle

  In a stable community the numbers of predators and prey rise and fall in cycles.
• Decomposer


  Organism that digest dead matter to extract the nutrients - this process is called decay or decomposition
• Factors that affect rate of decay

  • temperature
  • oxygen availability
  • water availability
  • number of decay organism
• what are the types of organisms that are usually responsible for decay?

  bacteria and fungi
• What is compost used for?

  as natural fertiliser for crops and garden
• what is biodiversity?


  The variety of different species of organisms in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
• Why do we need a high biodiversity?

  High biodiversity = more stable ecosystem
• what lead to the increase of human population?

  introduction of modern medicine and farming
• Why has development of medicine increase population?

  Better healthcare and it reduces death rate and increases life expectancy
• Why has development in farming increase population?

  Increases food production
• What are the types of waste that affect the ecosystem?

  Water

  Air

  Land
• What and how does waste in water affect the ecosystem ?

  Leads to water pollution.

  Fertilisers from farms washed of from heavy rain to the rivers, that leads to eutrophication causing the oxygen levels to fall.
• What is eutrophication?


  Hyper-nutrition causing rapid growth of algae leading to the depletion of oxygen preventing sunlight in killing aquatic organism
• What and how does waste in air affect the ecosystem ?

  Lead to Air Pollution

  Burning of coal releases acidic gasses (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide) that cause acid rain. Smoke also forms tiny particulates forming smog. harms wildlife, and disrupts ecosystems.