Ecology

• plants need; light, space, water, mineral ions
• animals need; space, food, water and mates
• what are stable communities?

  where all the species and environmental factors are in balance so that the population sizes are roughly constant
• structural adaptations: features of an organism's body structure
• behavioral adaptations: the ways organisms behave
• functional adaptations: the things that go.inside an organism's body that can relate to processes like reproduction and metabolism
• some microorganisms are known as extremophiles, they are adapted to live in very extreme conditions
• abiotic factors are non-living factors
• biotic factors are living factors
• consumers that hunt and kill other animals are called predators
• what are the environmental changes that affect the distribution of organisms?

  availability of water, temperature, atmospheric gases
• label the diagram:

  A) precipitation

  B) clouds

  C) condensation

  D) evaporation

  E) transpiration

  F) infiltration

  
• elements are cycled back to the start of the food chain by decay
• compost is decomposed organic matter that is used as a natural fertiliser
• the rate of decay is affected by what factors?

  temperature, oxygen availability, water availability, number of decay organisms
• biogas is made by anaerobic decay of waste material
• biogas is mainly made up of methane, which can be burned as a fuel
• biogas is made in a simple fermenter called a digester or generator
• biogas generators need to be kept at a constant temperature to keep the microorganisms respiring