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49 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is an ecosystem?
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an ecosystem is a natural biological unit which is made up of living and non-living parts
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what are the 3 parts of an ecosystem?
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Habitats
community population |
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What are habitats?
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The place where an organism lives
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What is a community?
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All the plants, animals and microbes that live together in an ecosystem.
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What is a population?
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A group of organisms of one species in an ecosystem
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What makes up an ecosystem?
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community + habitat
or all living things and their non_living surroundings |
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What is an abiotic factor?
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an abiotic is a non-living factor which affects an ecosystem
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3 examples of abiotic factors
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pH, light intensity, rainfall, temperature
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What is a biotic factor?
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a biotic factors are living factors related to an ecosystem
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3 examples of biotic factors?
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food availability, number of predators, incidence of disease, competition
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What are some methods of sampling an ecosystem (biotic factors)
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tree beating
pitfall trap quadrats belt transect pooter tulgren funnel sweep netting river sampling kick sampling |
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How do tree beat?
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place a white sheet below a tree and hit the branches with a big stick many times
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pitfall trap:
what is it used for How do you use it |
used for sampling small vertebrates found in soil surface .
dig trap into ground (have edge slightly below ground level) put a loose lid on top for protection, cover with leaves. check regularly
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How could you reduce error in a pitfall trap
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repeat trap
check regularly in case organisms eaten put a lid on the trap |
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Quadrats:
what is it used for How do you use it |
Measuring plant abundance
randomly throw quadrat count the number of square a particular species occurs in. |
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How could you reduce error in a quadrat?
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Use more quadrats
make up a rule at the start to decide about plants stuck between the bars |
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How would you sample/measure light intensity?
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using a light meter
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How woould you avoid error using a light meter
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measurement should be taken at the same time of day
don't cover sensors with hand/ your own shadow |
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How would you sample/measure temperature?
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measure using a thermometer
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How would you sample/measure Soil pH?
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probe is pushed into the soil and left for a short period of time to adjust before measurement is taken
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How would you sample/measure Soil moisture?
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Probe is pushed into the soil and left for a short period of time to adjust before measurement is taken
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How would you avoid error measuring soil moisture and pH
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clean the probe between every reading
put in to the same depth everytime |
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What is a biome?
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A biome is a large region of earth which can be distinguished by its abiotc factors
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3 types of biome?
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coniferous forest
Temperate grassland arctic tundra desert savanna scrub land tropical rainforest |
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What is biodiversity?
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Biodiversity means the total variation of living things that exist on earth. There are 1.75 million species
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What is an organism niche?
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it is the role an organism plays in a community. Or a way of life
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There is always more ... than predators
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prey
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the number of predators peak when?
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just after the peak of prey
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What could increase biodiversity?
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ideal abiotic conditions
little or no competition wide range of habitats available |
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What could decrease biodiversity?
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loss of habitat
increase in climate harshness competition extremes of grazing extremes of predation disease environmental pollution |
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What is a producer?
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A producer is a plant that produces its own food by photosynthesis
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what percentage of energy is lost when an organism is eaten
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90%
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What are the two types of competition?
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intraspecific and interspecific
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what is intraspecific competition?
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competition between the same species
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What is interspecific competition?
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competition between different species
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What is an adaptation
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an adaptation is an inherited characteristic that makes an organism well suited to its environment
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What do decomposers do?
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breakdown dead bodies and waste into ammonia compounds
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what does nitrifying bacteria do?
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change ammonium compound into nitrate
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What does deitrifying bacteria do
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Changes nitrates in the soil into nitrogen gas
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What do nitrogen fixing bacteria do?
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In soil and also in root nodules
fix nitrogen gas from the air and convert it into nitrates |
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What else can add nitrogen to soil?
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Lightning
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Farmers use fertilizer to...
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increase crop yield
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What is a species?
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A group of organisms that are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring
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What is evolution?
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a process of slow change in living organisms over a long period of time. The best adapted survive
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What is speciation?
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the formation of a new species
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What is a monoculture?
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A monoculture is a huge area of land used to farm one crop.
relies heavily on herbicides and pestisides |
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What is intensive farming?
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intensive farming is used to increase food supply
All other plants are removed Herbivorous animals are removed Animals are kept inside |
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What is biological control?
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Biological control is controlling a pest by using natural predators
i.e using lady birds to control aphids |
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Whats an example of an indicator species?
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a lichen
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