Ecosystems
The name given to a community of organisms interacting with each other and their environment.
An ecosystem
An organism that hunts and eats another organism.
Predator
What is the main source of energy for most ecosystems?
The sun
Identify and explain one adaptation on a camel
Name given to an important species within the ecosystem. Generally they are quite low in population numbers?
Keystone species
What is the difference between a biotic and abiotic factor?
Biotic factors are living; abiotic factors are non-living.
Organisms that compete for limited resources.
Competitors
What organisms make their own food using sunlight?
Producers
A desert animal is active mainly at night. Explain how this behaviour could help it survive.
It avoids the extreme daytime heat and reduces water loss.
An ecological process where adding or removing top predators triggers a chain reaction of alternating changes in populations
Trophic Cascade
Give two examples of abiotic factors that could affect an ecosystem.
Temperature, water, sunlight, pH, soil, salinity, etc
A relationship between to organisms when both organisms benefit?
Mutualism
Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake → Eagle. What is the term given to the frog?
Secondary consumer
A cactus has a thick waxy coating. What environmental problem does this help it deal with?
Water loss
These animals, when removed from the ecosystem, actually had an effect on the shape of rivers within that ecosystem. What were the animals and where was the ecosystem
Wolves of Yellowstone
Why are fungi incredibly important in a forest ecosystem?
They decompose dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
A tick feeds on a dog. What type of interaction is this?
Parisitism
What do arrows represent in a food chain/food web?
The flow of energy
Animals huddling together when they are cold is a structural adaptation. True or false
False it is a behavioural adaptation
Why can't a population continue increasing forever in a fixed ecosystem?
Resources such as food, water and space are limited.
Identify an ecosystem that is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
The Great Barrier Reef
If the number of predators in an ecosystem suddenly decreases, what could happen to their prey population? Explain.
The prey population may increase because there is less predation. This could then reduce the resources available to the prey.
Why doesn't all the energy in grass become available to the mouse when it eats the grass?
Less energy is available at each successive trophic level (lost to heat, movement, bodily procesess)
Two closely related species live in different environments and have different body structures. Explain why their adaptations may differ.
Different environments create different survival challenges and favour different characteristics.
What is the word equation for respiration
oxygen + glucose --> carbon dioxide + water