abiotic
non living
eg. temperature
biotic
living
eg. food
ecosystem
interaction of a community of living organisms with the non living parts of their environment
extremophiles
microorganisms adapted to live in extreme conditions
eg. high temperatures, high salt concentrations
how to use transect
- mark out line in area you want to study using tape measure
- collect data along line - count all organisms
reducing biodiversity
- waste production
- deforestation
- global warming
global warming what happens?
gases in atmosphere act as insulating layer - absorb energy that would be radiated out into space, and re radiate it in all directions
- increases temp of planet
peat bogs
carbon in plants is stored in peat instead of being released to atmosphere
peat bogs are drained for farmland, or are cut up and dried to be used as fuel
quadrats
squre frame enclosing a known area
to compare how common an organism is in 2 sample areas (eg. sunny and shady)
quadrat steps
1) place 1m 2 quadrat on ground at random point within first sample area (eg. divide area into grid, pick random coordinates)
2) count all organisms in quadrat
3) repeat steps as many times as possible
4) calculate a mean of organsims in sampling area
5) repeat steps for area 2
how to work out mean of organsims in quadrat
total number of organisms in quadrat / number of quadrats
other way of using quadrats
calculate percentage cover
- by splitting into little squares
- number of squares covered / number of squares in quadrat x 100
