| What is a habitat? | The place where an organism lives. |
| What is a population? | All the organisms of one speicies in a habitat. |
| What s a community? | The populations of different spieces living in a habitat. |
| What are abiotic factors? | Non-living factors of the environment, e.g. temperature. |
| What are biotic factors? | Living factors of the environment, e.g. food. |
| What is an ecosystem? | The interaction between living organisms and non-living parts of the environment. |
| What do plants need from their environment? | Light, space, water and mineral ions. |
| What do animals need from their environment? | Space (territory), food, water and mates. |
| What does interdependence mean? | When both living organisms and non-living parts of the environment rely on each other for survival and to thrive. |
| What is the;
Effect on the population due to no stonefly larvae?
Effect of loss of stonefly larvae?
On the blackfly larvae, water spider, and stickleback? | BLACKFLY LARVAE - The population may increase because there's less competition for algae, meaning more food.
However, the population may decrease because they're more likely to be eaten by predators.
WATER SPIDER - There would be less food, so the population would decrease.
STICKLEBACK - There's less food since the population of waterspiders or mayfly larvae will decrease, meaning stickleback populations will also decrease. |
| What are stable communities? | When all the species and environmental factors are balanced, so the population sizes remain roughly constant. |
| What are some examples of abiotic factors? | Moisture level, light intensity, temperature, carbon dioxide level, wind intensity, wind direction, oxygen level, soil pH and soil mineral content. |
| How could a decrease in light intensity, temperature or CO₂ levels affect populations, and which would it affect? | It would decrease the population size of plants, since it would decrease the rate of photosynthesis and stunt plant growth. |
| How could a decrease of mineral content in the soil affect populations, and which would it affect? | It would decrease the population size of plants, since it would cause plant deficiencies. |
| What are some examples of biotic factors? | Predators.
Competition.
Pathogens.
Food availability. |
| How can new predators affect populations? | It would decrease the prey population. |
| How can food availability affect the two squirrel populations? | Red and grey squirrels live in the same habitat and eat the same food, however, grey squirrels outcompete the red squirrels, meaning their population is decreasing. |
| What are the three types of adaptations? | Structural, Behavioural and Functional. |
| What is an adaptation? | Changes in an animals features or characteristics which will allow them to survive in an environment. |
| What are structural adaptations? | Changes in the features of an organisms body structure. E.g. shape or colour. |
| How are arctic foxes structurally adapted? | They have white fur, allowing them to camouflage with the snow. This allows them to sneak up on prey, or hide from predators. |
| How are animals that live in cold areas adapted for their environment? What type of adaptation is it? | It is a structural adaptation.
They have a thick layer of blubber (fat) to retain heat.
They have a low surface area to volume ratio to retain heat.
They have thick fur. |
| How are animals that live in hot areas adapted for their environment? What type of adaptation is it? | It is a structural adaptation.
They have a thin layer of fat to lose heat.
They have a large surface area to volume ratio to lose heat.
They have thin fur. |
| What are behavioural adaptations? | Changes in the way an organism behaves. E.g. migration to warmer climates during the winter. |
| What is an example of behavioural adaptations found in penguins? | They huddle together to stay warm and retain heat. |
| What are functional adaptations? | Changes inside an organisms body. E.g. changes in reproduction or metabolism. |
| How are desert animals functionally adapted? | They conserve water by urinating and sweating little. |
| How are brown bears functionally adapted? | They hibernate during the winter. This lowers their metabolism, so they dont need to hunt or worry about food. |
| What are extremophiles? | Organisms that are adapted to live in extreme conditions. |
| What are producers and where are they on the food chain? | They produce their own food from energy from the sun. They are at the bottom of the food chain, usually being green plants or algae. |
| What are primary consumers and where are they on the food chain? | They eat the producers and are usually prey. They are second bottom of the food chain. |
| What are secondary consumers and where are they on the food chain? | They eat primary consumers, and are either the prey or predators. They are second top of the food chain. |
| What are tertiary consumers and where are they on the food chain? | They eat secondary consumers, and are the predators. They are at the top of the food chain. |
| What are consumers? | Organisms that eat other organisms. |
| What is biomass? | The mass of all living material. Plants make them when glucose it used to make biological molecules. |
| Why are predator-prey cycles always out of phase? | It takes a while for one population to respond to the changes in another population. |
| What is the water cycle? | The continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere which keeps the amount of water constant. |
| What is a cycle? | A series of processes that returns a material back to its original state after. |
| What are the four cycles in nature? | Water, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. |
| What is prelocation? | When water trickles through rocks. |
| What is transpiration? | The movement of water through a plant and the evaporation from its leaves. |
| What is condensation? | The change of state from gaseous to liquid. |
| What is evaporation? | The change of state from liquid to gaseous at any tempertaure. |
| What is organic material? | Material that contains carbon. It's recycled. |
| What is the first stage of the water cycle? | Water from the surfaces of the ocean is EVAPORATED by energy from the sun and turned into water vapour. It can also evaporate from plants through TRANSPIRATION, |
| What is the second stage of the water cycle? | The water vapour cools and CONDENSES as it is carried upwards to form clouds. |
| What is the third stage of the water cycle? | The clouds become heavy with water, and PRECIPITATES. |
| What is the fourth stage of the water cycle? | The water then travels back to the ocean through percolation or DRAINING so the process can start again. |
| How do microorganisms help with decay? | They breakdown decaying organisms, releasing carbon into the soil and air. |
| How can the decay by microorganisms be sped up? | By having warm, moist and aerobic (oxygen rich) conditions. |
| What are the three ways carbon dioxide can be released into the atmosphere? | Combustion, respiration and decay. |
| How is carbon dioxide taken from the air? | Photosynthesis. |
| How do animals get carbon compounds? | From feeding (eating plants). |
| What are the two main things that causes combustion? | Burning fossil fuels and making products from animals and plants. |
