Year 8 Genetic and ecology

• What does a food chain show?

  Which organism eats which
• What is the energy source in a food chain?

  The sun
• What is an herbivore?

  An animal that only eats plants.
• What is a carnivore?

  An animal that eats other animals
• What is an omnivore?

  An animal that eats both plants and animals
• What is a producer?

  The first organism in a food chain
• What type of organisms are producers?

  Plants or algae
• What is a primary consumer?

  An animal that eats producers
• What is a secondary consumer?

  An animal that eats primary consumer
• What is a tertiary consumer?

  An animal that eats secondary consumers
• How is energy transferred from the sun to the producers?

  Photosynthesis
• What is a food web?

  A set of linked food chains
• What does a food web show?

  Feeding relationships amongst a group of living things
• What is a trophic level?

  Different levels in a food chain
• How are trophic levels represented?

  By numbers
• What does trophic level 1 represent?

  Producers
• What does trophic level 2 represent?

  Primary consumers
• What does trophic level 3 represent?

  Secondary consumers
• What is a decomposer?

  Organism that breaks down dead animal/plant material.
• What is biomass?

  The mass of material in a living organism
• What is a pyramid of biomass?

  The amount of biomass at each stage of a food chain
• What is a species?

  A group of organisms which can breed to produce viable offspring
• What is an endangered species?

  A species with only a small number of individuals remaining
• What is extinction?

  When there are no living individuals of a species remaining
• What are the main causes of extinction?

  Loss of habitat, disease, predation
• What is deforestation?

  Clearing large areas of trees
• Why does deforestation occur?

  To provide land for farming
• Give three things land which has undergone deforestation may be used for

  To grow food crops to rear livestock, to grow biofuels
• What is the effect of deforestation on carbon dioxide level?

  Increases carbon dioxide level
• What is one of the main risks of deforestation to individual species?

  May cause extinction
• What is a pollutant?

  A damaging chemical or form of energy
• What is pollution?

  Damage to the environment caused by a pollutant
• What are the three main groups of pollutants from farming?

  Pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers
• Give an example of a pesticide

  DDT
• What is bioaccumulation?

  Gradual build up of chemicals in an organism
• What group of organism is most at risk from

  bioaccumulation?

  Tertiary consumers