Grade 10 Science > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

(103 cards)

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1
Q

What is ecology?

A

The study of the interaction between living things and their environment

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2
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A community of organisms interacting with themself and with non-living factors in their environment

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3
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A

Non-living things in an ecosystem

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4
Q

What are examples of abiotic factors?

A

Sunlight
Temperature
Rocks
Soil
Nutrients
Water
Air

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5
Q

What are biotic factors?

A

Biotic factors are living things in an ecosystem

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6
Q

What are examples of biotic factors?

A

Plants
Animals
Fungi
Bacteria

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7
Q

What are producers?

A

Also known as autotrophs, they create their own food

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8
Q

What are examples of producers?

A

Trees
Grass
Algae

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9
Q

What are consumers?

A

Also known as heterotrophs, they eat producers or other consumers

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10
Q

What are examples of consumers?

A

Human
Lobster
Cow

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11
Q

What is energy needed for?

A

Live processes like mobility, reproduction, growth, and development

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12
Q

How much percent of energy is transferred from tropic level to tropic level?

A

10%

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13
Q

What is a nutrients cycle.

A

The continual use and reuse of nutrients needed by living things

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14
Q

What is bioaccumulation?

A

A process where materials, especially toxins, are absorbed by an organism and build up in it overtime.

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15
Q

What is biomagnification?

A

The increase in concentration of a toxin as it moves further up a food chain

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16
Q

Why are substances that bioaccumulate dangerous?

A

-persistent, remain in environment for long time without breaking down
-increase in concentration
-Toxic effects on nervous system, reproductive, and developmental
-move easily through air, water, and land

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17
Q

What was DDT used for?

A

DDT is a pesticide sprayed in Borneo in the 1950s to kill mosquitoes that spread malaria.

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18
Q

What effect did DDT killing a certain species of wasps have on the environment?

A

The wasps were predators of a type of roof eating caterpillars. When they died the caterpillars increased and ate more roofs.

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19
Q

What impact did DDT have on village cats?

A

Many Gecko Lizards ate the dead wasps that were killed by DDT but were not affected by it. Village cats would then eat the geckos and die because of the DDT in them.

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20
Q

What does WHO stand for?

A

World Health Organization

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21
Q

What animals was affected by PCBs and DDT to the point of near extinction?

A

Peregrine falcons

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22
Q

How come humans must limit their intake of fish?

A

Fish are humans biggest exposure to mercury because they store the element in their muscle. Mercury is toxic to humans and too much exposure leads to some unwanted effects.

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23
Q

How can chemicals used on land reach aquatic ecosystems?

A

Through surface run off

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24
Q

What are the differences in beluga whales in the Northern St. Lawrence and Canadian Arctic.

A

Northern part of the St. Lawrence: highest rates of cancer, 20% females reproducing

Canadian Arctic: no Cancer, 66% females reproducing

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25
What is a population?
A group of organisms of the species that live in a specific area at the same time
26
What is the formula for population growth?
Population growth= (births + immigration) - (deaths + emigration)
27
What does a J-curve show?
A population explosion or exponential growth
28
What does an A-curve show?
A population crash
29
What does an S-curve show?
Normal population growth, when a population reaches equilibrium
30
Does equilibrium always equal carrying capacity?
No, but we hope it does
31
What are limiting factors?
Factors that limit the growth, distribution, or size of a population in an ecosystem.
32
What are examples of limiting factors?
Food Energy (sun) pH levels Temperature Space Predation Competition
33
What are the two types of limiting factors?
Density-dependent factors Density-independent factors
34
What are density-independent factors?
Factors that affect populations regardless of their size
35
What are density-dependent factors?
Factors that affect a population because of its size
36
What kind of limiting factors are typically abiotic?
Density-independent factors
37
What kind of limiting factors are typically biotic?
Density-dependent factors
38
What are examples of density-independent factors?
Forest fires Pollution Extreme storms Floods Droughts
39
What are examples of density-dependent factors?
Stress Competition Disease
40
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum population of a species that an area can sustain indefinitely
41
What is equilibrium?
When a population reaches a number they will not increase or decrease from
42
What is an ecological niche?
How an organism occupies a position in an ecosystem
43
What is a sustainable ecosystem?
An ecosystem capable of withstanding pressure and giving support to multiple organisms
44
What does biodiversity include?
The number and variety of organisms in a specific region, and the number and variety of ecosystems within and beyond the region.
45
What is needed for biodiversity to remain high?
Diverse ecosystems need to be more sustainable
46
Ecosystems with greater biodiversity exhibit what?
Resilience
47
What is resilience?
The ability of an ecosystem to function and remain stable in the face of disturbances.
48
What three patterns did UofMinnesota find that greater biodiversity resulted in?
-increased plant cover -increased resistance to invasive species -more disease resistance
49
What is an ecological footprint?
A measure of the impact an individual has on the environment, and how much nature is required to sustain their lifestyle forever
50
What is earth overshoot day?
The day the resources for the year run out and earth begins to rely on resources for the next year
51
What is a paradigm shift?
A significant change in the way humans view the world
52
What does the nitrogen cycle describe?
How nitrogen moves between plants, animals, bacteria, the atmosphere, and soil.
53
How much of the earth’s atmosphere is nitrogen?
78%
54
How much of the earth’s atmosphere is oxygen?
21%
55
What cells and processes need nitrogen?
Amino acids, protein, DNA, and chlorophyll in plants.
56
How come plants can only consume nitrogen as ammonia or nitrate?
Because of its toxicity
57
How do animals and humans receive the nitrogen they need for their metabolism and reproduction?
Through consuming organic matter
58
Nitrogen oxides are released as exhaust during what?
The combustion of fossil fuels
59
How does lightning aid the conversion of nitrogen?
Through fixing the nitrogen
60
What is the most important component of the nitrogen cycle?
Bacteria
61
Why is bacteria so important in the nitrogen cycle?
It helps the nitrogen change states.
62
What are the steps of the nitrogen cycle?
Nitrogen Fixation Nitrification Assimilation Ammonification Denitrification
63
What happens in nitrogen fixation?
Nitrogen fixing bacteria turns nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonia.
64
What happens in nitrification?
Nitrifying bacteria turns the ammonia into nitrates as nitrates are what plants absorb
65
What is assimilation?
How plants get their nitrogen. They get it by absorbing the nitrogen in the soil through their roots
66
What is ammonification?
Once animals and plants die, decomposer come along and break down the nitrogen back into ammonia to renter the cycle
67
What happens in denitrification?
Denitrifying bacteria turns any nitrogen that is left over in the soil back into atmospheric nitrogen
68
What is a watershed?
Area of land where the run off drains into a body of water
69
What is eutrophication?
Nutrient enrichment, when there are too many nutrient in aquatic environments often leading to an increase in predators
70
What is a dead zone?
When the oxygen levels in a body of water drop and begins killing any living thing that cannot move away quickly enough
71
What are algal blooms?
Explosions of algae caused by over abundance of nutrients
72
What is evaporation?
When liquid becomes gas
73
What is transpiration?
When the sweat on plants turns into gas
74
What is condensation?
When gas turns into liquid
75
What is precipitation?
Falling water
76
What is surface runoff?
When soil is too saturated water run off occurs.
77
What is infiltration?
The movement of precipitation in soil
78
What are reservoirs in the context of the carbon cycle?
The primary places where carbon is found and stored
79
What are the 4 carbon reservoirs?
Atmosphere, land living, oceans, sediments
80
How is carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere?
Through photosynthesis.
81
What is the formula for photosynthesis?
CO2 + H2O—(light energy)—> C6 H12 O6 + O2
82
How can carbon compound be released into the atmosphere?
Respiration Decay Combustion
83
How does respiration release carbon into the atmosphere?
Respiration is the opposite of photosynthesis, and is when people exhale carbon dioxide
84
How does decay release carbon into the atmosphere?
Carbon is released when dead organisms are broken down
85
How does combustion release carbon into the atmosphere?
Carbon compounds are released as a result of burning things
86
What are 2 ways humans affect the carbon cycle?
1. Humans release carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels 2. Humans reduced carbon sinks
87
What are carbon sinks?
Carbons sinks are things that take in more carbon than they release, like forests.
88
What are greenhouse gases?
Gases that trap heat from the sun
89
What is the greenhouse effect?
The trapping of the suns heat as a result of greenhouse gases.
90
What is global warming?
An increase in the overall average global temperature
91
How has the imbalance in the carbon cycle affected sustainability?
-changing the length of growing seasons -introducing new pests and diseases in an area -loss of habitat and food sources -turns ocean water more acidic -potentially causes lower reproductive success in some species of fish
92
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
An international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
93
What is sustainability?
Using Earth’s resources in a way that allows us to continue using them forever
94
What is climate change?
Long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns
95
What is solar energy?
Energy from the sun that can be used as thermal and electrical energy
96
What are the two types of competition?
Intraspecific Interspecific
97
What is interspecific competition?
Competition between two animals of different species
98
What is intraspecific competition?
Competition between two animals of the same species
99
What is competition?
When two organisms are competing for the same resources
100
What is product lifestyle?
All the aspects involved in making, distributing,selling, using, and disposing of a product
101
What is a carbon footprint?
The total amount of greenhouse gas or carbon emissions created by a person
102
What is deforestation?
Clearing forests for other human uses never replanting them
103
What is a radiation budget?
Describes the balance between incoming solar energy and outgoing thermal and reflected energy
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