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- The study of interactions between living things and their environment
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- Part of the planet containing living organisms
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- A group of clearly distinguished organisms that interact with their environment as a unit
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- Grassland
- Dessert
- Freshwater
- Marine
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- The feeding level in a food chain
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- A place where a plant or animal lives
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- All the members of the same species living in an area
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- All the different populations in an area
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- Non-living factor
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- pH
- Temperature
- Altitude
- Light intensity
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- Living factors
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- Food
- Competition
- Pollution
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- Factors that relate to weather over a long period of time
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- Temperature
- Rainfall
- Prevailing wind
- Humidity
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- Factors that relate to soil
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- pH
- Soil type
- Soil water
- humus content
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- A sequence of organisms in which each one is eaten by the next member of the chain
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- Buttercup
- Caterpillar
- Blackbird
- Fox
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- Grass
- Rabbit
- Fox
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- Organisms that carry out photosynthesis
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- Take food from other organisms
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- Feeds on producers
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- Herbivores
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- Plant eaters
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- Feeds on primary consumer
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- Carnivore
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- Meat eater
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- Feeds on secondary consumer
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- When no other organism feeds on them
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- Organisms that feed off dead organic matter
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- All animals in an ecosystem
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- All plants in an ecosystem
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- The sun
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- By means of a food chain
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- Only 10% of energy is passed from trophic level to trophic level
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- A food web consists of 2 or more interlinked food chains
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- The functional role of an organism in the community
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- The way in which nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen are exchanged between the living and the non-living components of an ecosystem
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- So nutrients can be re-used by organisms
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- Plants remove carbon from the environment through photosynthesis
- Return it by respiration
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- Animals obtain carbon by eating plants
- Return it by respiration
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- Return carbon to the environment when they decompose dead plants or animals
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- Bacteria
- Fungi
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- Conversion of nitrogen gas into :
- Ammonia (NH3)
- Ammonium (NH4+)
- Nitrate (NO3)
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- Conversion of ammonia and ammonium compounds into nitrate or nitrite
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- Conversion of nitrates to nitrogen gas
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- Bacteria
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- Converts nitrogen gas in atmosphere to nitrates
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- Converts nitrogen waste to ammonia
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- Converts ammonia to nitrates
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- Converts nitrates to nitrogen gas
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- To decay dead plants and animals and their wastes into ammonia in the soil
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- Absorb nitrates from soil
- Use nitrogen to form proteins
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- Consume plants
- Use their nitrogen to form animal protein
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- Both cycles contain:
- Micro-organisms
- Death and Decomposition
- Excretion
- Assimilation
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- Any harmful addition to the environment
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- Any substance that causes pollution
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- Household waste
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- Smoke that causes acid rain
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- Slurry entering river
- Overuse of fertilisers
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- Eutrophication
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- A farmer spreads slurry and it rains, slurry can wash away and enter a river
- Slurry is rich in nutrients which causes algae to grow
- Algae covers river surface
- Preventing light from entering and therefore preventing photosynthesis from occurring
- This means no oxygen is produced and small organisms in the river may die
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- Spread slurry on sunny, dry days
- Keep a distance away from rivers and lakes
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- Preventing pollution and conserving the environment
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- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
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- Bacteria and fungi break down organic material
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- Wise management of existing natural resources in an ecosystem
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- Prevents death and extinction of organisms
- Maintains balance of nature
- Aesthetic reasons
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- Over fishing is a serious problem that causes depletion in fish stocks
- Fish stocks can be conserved by ensuring holes in the net are big enough so young fish are not caught, so they can go on and reproduce
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- Organisms actively struggle for a resource that is in short supply
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- When there is an active physical contest between 2 organisms
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- Fighting for a mate
- Fighting for food
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- When all the competing individuals get some of the resource
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- Plant fighting for space
- Plant fighting for light
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- Competition takes place between same species
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- Competition takes place between different species
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- Controls population sizes
- Allows natural selection to occur
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- the well adapted species evolve and survive
- The less adapted species are eliminated
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- Catching, killing and eating of another organism
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- Organism that catches, kills and eats another organism
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- Organism that is eaten by the predator
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- Behavioural
- Structural
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Fox :
- Long canine teeth
- Excellent night vision
Ladybird :
- Strong mouth parts to kill green flies
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- Behavioural
- Structural
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Rabbit :
- Narrow underground burrows for hiding/storage
- Long ears for hearing
Earthworm :
- Brown in colour for camouflage
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- Predatation maintains the prey species at a sustainable level
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- Predator-prey relationships are used in biological control of pests
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- Ladybirds are used to control numbers of green flies
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- Preditation forces the prey species to evolve
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- When two organisms live in close association
- One organism (parasite) obtains food to the disadvantage of the second organism (host)
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- Lives inside the host
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- Liver flukes
- Potato blight
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- Lives on the outside of the host
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- Fleas on dogs
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- When two organisms of different species live in the same habitat and at least one benefits
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- Nitrogen fixing bacteria
- Cellulose digesting bacteria
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- Famine
- War
- Disease
- Contraception
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- Represents the number of organisms at each tropic level of a food chain
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- It doesn’t take into account the size of the organism
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- When the number of organisms actually increases
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- Grassland
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- A qualitative study looks for the presence or absence of an organism
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- A quantitative study looks for the amount of each organism that is present
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- Species - Daisies (or any flora)
- Throw a pencil over your shoulder for random selection
- Place a quadrant where the pencil lands and count the number of daisies
- Repeat this process 9 more times to get an average
- Put results into a table and graph the percentage cover of the daisies
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- Line Transect Experiment
- A rope is marked at intervals
- Each interval is known as a station
- The type of plant touching each station along the rope is recorded
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- Capture-recapture Method
- Species - Snail
- Set up a pitfall trap
- Leave for 24 hours (overnight)
- Come back and count the snails present in the pitfall trap
- Mark the snails with a non-toxic paint and release them
- Return the following day and count the snails again
- Count and record the amount of new snails and previously marked snails
- Use the formula Count 1 x Count 2 to find the total population of snails
Already marked on count 2
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- Human Error
- Changing Conditions
- Sample Size
- Accidental Discovery
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- Means of naming organisms by answering questions with alternating answers
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No. of points covered x100
Total Number of grid points
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- For estimating the amount of ground in a quadrat covered by each species
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no. of quadrats containing species x100
no. of quadrats
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- Identifying the chance of finding a named species with any one of throw of a quadrat
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- Thermometer
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- Light meter
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- Anemometer
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- Any of the following :
- Rainwater
- Wind
- Light
- Water
- pH
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- Water
- Used a rain gauge