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Ecology
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| ecology | study of interactions between organisms and their environment |
| ecosystem | group of organisms that interact with their environment as a unit e.g woodland |
| biosphere | part of the planet in which living organisms can be found |
| habitat | a place where animals or plants live e.g woodlands, rain forests |
| population | members of the same species in a habitat |
| abiotic factors | non-living factors e.g aspect (north facing slopes are cooler and darker) |
| biotic factors | living factors e.g available food (more food will enable more survival) |
| edaphic factors | effects of weather e.g rain (more rain = more water) |
| producers | organisms that produce their own food |
| trophic level | an organisms position in a food chain |
| food chain | number of organisms where one is eaten by another |
| food web | number of interconnected food chains |
| flora | all plants in a ecosystem |
| consumers | organisms that get their food from another organism |
| fauna | all animals in the ecosystem |
| decomposers | they feed off dead or decaying matter |
| detritus feeders | feed off dead organic matter e.g dead leaves |
| grazing food chain | sequence of organisms in which each one is eaten by the next member in the chain |
| sun | the ultimate source of energy. feeding allows energy flow from an organism to organism. 90% of energy is lost as you move up a trophic level |
| pyramid of numbers | represents the no. of organisms at each stage in the food chain |
| niche | functional role an organism plays in a particular habit e.g foxes keep rabbit numbers down |
| nutrient recycling | way in which elements e.g carbon are exchanged between living and non/living components of a ecosystem |
| pollution | harmful additions to the environment |
| examples of pollution | domestic: household waste agricultural: pesticides industrial: chemicals |
| conservation | wise management of our existing natural resources |
| competition | organisms actively struggle for a resource that is in short supply (limits population growth) |
| contest competition | active physical confrontation between two organisms, one obtains all the resources |
| scramble competition | struggle between a no. of organisms with all organisms obtaining at least some of the resource |
| inter-specific competition | competition that takes place between members of the same species |
| intra-specific competition | competition that takes place between members of a different species |
| adaption | occurs to reduce competition e.g caterpillar eats cabbage while butterfly eats nectar |
| predation | catching, killing and eating another organism e.g snake and mouse |
| parasitism | two organisms of different species live together and on organism feeds off another organism, giving them a disadvantage e.g ringworm |
| symbiosis | two organisms of different species live closely where at least one of them benefits e.g bacteria in human digestive system |
| what aids ecologists when studying ecosystems | key |
| predator | an organisms that kills and eats another organism |
| prey | an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism |
| nitrogen fixation | nitrogen gas converted to ammonia, ammonium, nitrate or nitrite |
| decompositon | break down of dead, organic matter into usable compounds |
| nitrification | conversion of ammonia/ammonium/urea into nitrate/nitrite |
| denitrification | conversion of ammonia/ammonium/nitrate/nitrite into nitrogen gas |
| autotroph | an organism that can make its own food from inorganic materials |
| detritus food chain | a chain that begins with dead organic matter |
| abiotic grass land factors | climate |
| biotic grass land factors | competition |
| climatic grass land factors | temperature |
| edaphic grass land factors | soil pH |
| primary source of energy | sun |
| limitations of a pyramid of numbers | numbers of groups can be too large |
| examples of conservation : agriculture, forestry and fishery | |
| factors that effect populations | poisoning, wind turbines, hunting. |
| nutrient recycling | continuous movement of essential elements between the living and non-living parts of an ecosystem, ensuring their reuse |
Created by:
Kamilex
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