Ecology

• What is meant by a habitat?

  A habitat is a natural habitat where an organism lives
• What is a populations?

  A population is a group of organisms of the same species that live in the same geographical area
• What is a community?

  A community is the population of all d the different species that live in the same habitat
• What does the term biotic refer to?

  Living organisms
• What does the term Abiotic refer to?

  Non-living organisms
• What is an ecosystem?

  An ecosystem is both the biotic and abiotic parts of an environment and how they interact
• What do plants compete with each other for?

  • light
  • space
  • water
  • mineral ions in soil
• What do animals compete with each other for?

  • food
  • water
  • mating partners
  • territory
• What is interdependance?


  Mutual reliance or dependence between two or more organisms
• What is an example of interdependance?

  Plants depending on bees to spread their pollen
• What is a stable community?

  a stable community is a populations of organisms that are inbalance with eachother and abiotic recourses
• Biotic factors that affect a community

  • Availability of food
  • New predator
  • Competition
  • New pathogens
• Abiotic factors that affect a community

  • Light intensity
  • Temperature
  • Water
  • pH of soil
  • Wind intensity and Direction
• How can availability of food affect a community?

  If availability of food falls the number of organisms in a community will also fall
• How can new predators affect a community?

  A new predator can cause the population to fall and can also affect existing prey because they are competing for the same prey
• How can competition affect a community?

  If outcompeted then population can fall so much that the number of organisms are no longer sufficient to breed leading to extinction
• How can new pathogens affect a community?

  If an infection emerges and spreads a whole species can be wiped out
• How can light intensity affect a community?

  All plants need light to carry photosynthesis if light intensity falls plants will grow slowly, if plants grow slowly animals that feed on them may not have enough food
• How can temperature affect a community?


  The temperature can cause distribution of animals to change and migrate and plants could dissapear
• How can water affect a community?

  Plants and animals need water to survive without water the number of organisms within that ecosystem could be wiped out
• How can the pH of soil affect a community?

  Many plants cannot grow on soil to acidic or alkaline
• How can wind intensity and direction affect a community?

  Strong winds can cause a plants to lose water
• How can $CO_2\ and\ O_2\$affect a community?


  They are needed for plants to photosynthesise if they fall the rate to photosynthesise can decrease
• How can constant $O_2$ affect a community?


  The level of dissolved oxygen in water can fall for example, on hot days this is harmful to aquatic organisms