Ecology

• Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, and ecosystem level.
• What's a habitat?

  A habitat is the place where an organisms lives. 
• What's a population?

  A population refers to all of the organisms of a particular species that live in the same habitat. 
• What is a 'community'?

  All the populations of different species that live together in a habitat
• What's an ecosystem?

  An ecosystem is the interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) with the non-living (abiotic) parts of their environment.
• What's competition?

  Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which they both try to use the same limited resources.
• Give resources animals compete for?

  Food

  Water

  Mates

  Territory
• Give resources that plants compete for?

  Mineral ions

  Water

  Light

  Space
• What's Interdependence?

  All organisms in an ecosystem depend upon one another, with countless complex relationships between them all. 
• What are biotic factors?

  Biotic factors are also known as living factors, and refer to processes by which one living organism affects other living organism in its environment. 
• What are some examples of biotic factors?

  The availability of food 

  The level of disease 

  Predators
• What's an abiotic factor?

  Non-living factor.
• What are some examples of abiotic factors?

  Wind intensity 

  Soil pH

  Temperature

  Level of mineral ions in the soil
• What does the term 'structural adaptations' refer to?

  The physical features of the organism
• What are examples of structural adaptations?

  The shape of an organism 

  The colour of an organism
• What does the term 'behavioural adaptations' refer to?

  The way an organism acts 
• What are examples of behavioural adaptations?

  The response of an organism when it sees a predator 

  Hibernation
• What does the term 'functional adaptations' refer to?

  The processes that take place within an organism 
• What are examples of functional adaptations?

  How an organism metabolises chemicals 

  The production of venom 
• What is an extremophile?

  Extremophiles are microorganisms that live in extreme environments, such as those with high temperatures, pressures, or salt concentrations. 
• What's a food chain

  A model that shows how energy passes from organism to organism
• What are producers?

  Organisms at the very start of a food chain that can create glucose using photosynthesis
• What are primary consumers?

  Primary consumers are organisms that eat Producers 
• What are tertiary consumers?

  Tertiary consumers are organisms that eat secondary consumers. 
• As energy passes along a food chain, most of the energy is lost
• What is a predator?

  An animal that hunts and kills other animals for food
• What's prey?

  An organism that is killed and eaten by a predator 
• Abundance refers to how many organisms there are.
• Distribution refers to where the organisms are.
• What is sampling?

  where ecologists only measure a subset of the organisms, and use that subset to make predictions about the whole population. 
• What are the two main sampling methods?

  1. Quadrats - to measure abundance
  2. Transects - to measure how distribution changes
• Quadrats are square frames, that have been subdivided into lots of smaller squares. We can use them to sample a habitat and estimate the size of a population.
• Describe how you might use a 1m x 1m quadrat to estimate the number of dandelions in a 100m x 100m field?

  1. Place multiple tape measures along the length and width of the field, forming a large grid.
  2. Use a random number generator to generate 10 pairs of random coordinates.
  3. Place quadrats at those coordinates and count how many dandelions are found in each quadrat.
  4. Calculate the mean number of dandelions per m2.
  5. Estimate the total population size using our mean number of dandelions per m2 and the total area of the field.
• Transects are used to observe and record changes in species distribution across an area.
• Describe using transects to study the distribution of dandelions in an open field stretching from a lake to a woodland?

  1.  transect line (usually a tape measure) is laid out in a straight line between the lake and woodland
  2. Quadrats are placed at regular intervals along the transect line. 
  3. The abundance of dandelions is measured by counting the number of dandelions in each quadrat along the transect line, from the lake to the woodland.
  4. Steps 1-3 are repeated using new transect lines  By using multiple transect lines, the data gathered is more representative of the area.
• Explain what sampling means and why it is often used. 

  Sampling means only counting a subset of the organisms in a habitat

  This is done because it would be impossible, or very time consuming, to count all the organisms 
• What is a transect?

  A line through a habitat along which organisms are sampled
• Why is recycling nutrients important for all living organisms?

  It provides the nutrients that living organisms use to grow and reproduce
• Describe the stages of the water cycle?

  1. Water from lakes, rivers, oceans, and the soil, evaporates into water vapour, and rises into the atmosphere.
  2. Water can also evaporate from plants in a process called transpiration.
  3. As the water vapour accumulates it can condense to form clouds.
  4. Later, the water will fall as rain, which we call precipitation.
  5. The water will then seep into the soil, flow into rivers or lakes, and be taken up by plants. 
  6. The whole cycle then repeats over and over. 
• Evaporation is the process of liquid water turning to water vapour. This change in state requires energy.