Ecology

• What is a habitat?


  place where organisms live
• What is a population?


  all the organisms of one species living in a habitat
• What is a community?


  populations of different species living in a habitat
• What is an abiotic factor?


  non-living factors of environment
• What is a biotic factor?


  living factors of the environment
• What is an ecosystem?


  the interaction of a community of living organisms (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) parts of environment
• What are some abiotic factors?


  • moisture level

  • light intensity

  • temperature

  • carbon dioxide level

  • wind intensity and direction

  • oxygen level

  • soil pH

  • mineral content
• What are some biotic factors?


  • new predators arriving

  • competition

  • new pathogens

  • availability of food
• What is an adaptation?


  a feature or characteristic that helps an organism to survive in its natual environment
• What types of adaptations are there?

  • structural

  • behavioural

  • functional
• What is a structural adaptation?


  features of an organism's body structure - such a shape or colour
• What is a behavioural adaptation?


  ways organisms behave - such as migration to warmer climates during the winter
• What is a functional adaptation?


  things that go on inside an organism's body relating to processes like reproduction and metabolism
• What does a producer do?


  makes own food using energy from the sun
• What is an example of a producer?

  algae - makes glucose by photosynthesis
• What is a biomass?


  the mass of a living material
• What is transferred through living organisms in an ecosytem when organisms eat eachother?

  energy
• What eats producers?


  secondary consumers
• What eats secondary producers ? 


  tertiary consumers
• What are the environmental changes affect the distribution of an organism?

  • availability of water

  • changes in temperature

  • compostitions of atmosphere gases
• What happens during the water cycle?

  • energy from sun makes water evaporate - turning into water vapour

  • water also evaporates from plants - transpiration

  • water vapour rises and condenses to form clouds

  • precipitation falls from clouds onto land providing fresh water

  • drains into sea
• What happens during decay?

  • plants turn carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen from soil and air into complex compounds

  • materials returned to environment in waste products when organisms die and decay

  • materials taken out of the soil and used by plants
• Why do plants decay?

  broken down by microorganisms
• How do you speed up decay?

  • warm temperature

  • moist

  • aerobic (oxygen rich)
• How does the carbon cycle?

  • CO2 removed from atmosphere by plants during photosythesis, used to make glucose

  • when plants respire some carbon is released back into atmosphere as CO2

  • plants eaten by animals and carbon moves through food chain

  • when animals respire some carbon is released back into atmosphere as CO2

  • animals produce waste thats broken down by microorganisms

  • when plants and animals die microorganisms feed on remains, when they respire carbon released as CO2

  • combustion of wood and fossil fuels releases CO2 in the air
• What is compost?

  decomposed organic matter that is used as a natural fertiliser for crops and garden plants
• What factors affect rate of decay?

  • temperature - increases rate that enzymes work, to hot causes enzymes to denature

  • oxygen availability - need oxygen to respire but microorganisms involved in anaerobic decay don't need oxygen

  • water availability - decay takes place in moist environments as water is needed to carry out biological processes

  • number of decay organisms - more microorganisms that faster decomposition happens
• What is biogas made of?

  methane
• What can biogas be used for?

  burned as fuel
• How is biogas made?

  • when plant and animal waste decays anaerobically to produce methane gas

  • put in simple fermenter called digester or generator

  • need to be kept at a constant temperature

  • biogas cannot be stored as a liquid
• How is biogas made on a large scale?

  using sludge waste from sewage or sugar factories
• What are the two types of biogas generators?

  • batch - small amounts (batches) which are manually loadded with waste

  • continuous - make all the time, waste is continously fed in, biogas produced at steady rate and at large-scale
• What is biodiversity?


  variety of different species of organisms on Earth or with in an ecosystem
• Why is a high biodiveristy important?

  • makes sure ecosystems are stable

  -> depend on each other for food and shelter

  -> help maintain right physical environment for each other
• How do humans decrease biodiversity?

  • waste production

  • deforestation

  • global warming

  • eutrophication
• Why is our population increasing so fast?

  due to medicine and better farming methods less people are dying from disease and hunger
• How do humans cause widespread affects?

  • population increasing put pressure on environment - take the resources to survive

  • higher demand of living - cars and computers

  • increased use of raw materials - oil to make plastic

  • using energy to manufacture
• As we make more things what else do we produce?

  waste
• What things does an increase in waste affect?

  • land

  • water

  • air
• How is water effected by waste?

  • sewage and toxic chemicals pollute water sources affecting animals and plants

  • chemicals used on land wash into water