Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

Section 4: Ecology and the environment

a) The organism in the environment

More lovely definitions for you to learn!

Population: all the individuals of a particular species within a defined

area

Community: a group of different populations living in the same area

Habitat: the physical, chemical and biological environment in which

an organism lives

Ecosystem: a community of living things and the environment in

which they live

Quadrat How it is used

A quadrat can be used to calculate the total

population of a species (e.g. snails). Simply count
the number of individuals in the quadrat. This
technique only works for large organisms which can
be distinguished as individuals (not always easy for
plants, e.g. grass!)

A quadrat can be used to calculate the percentage

cover of a species (e.g. moss). The quadrat is
divided into 100 smaller squares. The percentage
cover of the quadrat is simply the number of
squares filled with the species.

A quadrat can be used to calculate the percentage

frequency of a species (e.g. daisies in a field). The
quadrat is divided into 100 smaller squares. You
simply count a 1 for each square the species is in
and a 0 for those where it is absent. This gives you
an indication of the frequency of the species, it
does not tell you the total population.
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Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

In ecology we usually need to sample (this is because it is not

practical to count all of the species we’re interested in e.g. one
cannot count all of the grass plants in a field!). Ecologists use
quadrats to sample from.

Quadrats can be any size you like (e.g. 5km by 5km sampling zebra
heards in Africa, or 5cm by 5cm sampling lichen on a tree), but
there are 3 different methods of using a quadrat. You need to be
able to explain how you would use quadrats to find out information
about specific species in their habitat.

b) Feeding relationships

Food chains are used to show the relationships between species in a

habitat. E.g.

Fox The secondary Consumer (eats the Primary Consumer)

Rabbit The Primary Consumer (eats the producer)

Grass The Primary Producer (all food chains start with this)

Each level in a food chain is called a Trophic Level

Food chains can be built up into complex food webs. The difference
between food chains and food webs is that food webs have
branches, chains never do.

A Pyramid of Numbers

Foxes

Rabbits

Grass

This shows the populations (to scale) of the species in the chain

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Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

Sometimes a Pyramid of numbers can be inverted (i.e. have a tiny

base). This occurs if there is a parasitic relationship in the food
chain i.e. one tree, but many caterpillars eating the leaves!

To stop this a pyramid of biomass is more frequently used. This

always has a pyramidal shape.

A Pyramid of Biomass

Bats

Caterpillars

Tree

Biomass – the mass of the organic material an organism is made

from (i.e. dry it out totally and weigh it, water doesn’t count!)

We can also represent the energy flow in a food chain using a

Pyramid of Energy Transfer.

A Pyramid of Energy Transfer

Fox

Rabbits

Grass

The Sun

This gives an indication of the huge amount of energy that is not

passed on to the next trophic level. This is because at each level
energy is wasted on;

- Respiration (most of it as waste heat)

- Undigested / egested food
- Used in movement

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c) Cycles within
Edexcel IGCSE Revision ecosystems
notes Written by Tim Filtness

The Water Cycle:

Key ideas – Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation &

Transpiration (rather unhelpfully not shown on this diagram)

The Carbon Cycle:

Key ideas – Respiration, Photosynthesis, Decomposition &

Combustion

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 Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

The Nitrogen Cycle:

Nitrogen in air
(N2 gas)

Denitrifying Bacteria Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria

Nitrogen in soil Decomposition Nitrogen in

(Ammonium – NH4+) animals (protein)
(bacteria + fungi)

Nitrifying Bacteria Assimilation

Nitrogen in soil Active Nitrogen in plants

(Nitrate – NO3-) (protein)
Transport

This is not particularly easy to understand. You need to know the

roles of all the different bacteria. There are 4;

- Decomposers – turn nitrogen in protein into ammonium (NH4+)

- Denitrifying Bacteria – turn ammonium (NH4+) into N2

- Nitrifying bacteria – turn ammonium (NH4+) into nitrate (NO3-)

- Nitrogen-fixing bacteria – turn N2 into ammonium (NH4+)

Extension - leguminous plants (not technically on syllabus)

All of the above bacteria are naturally present in the soil. The only
exception to this is that some Nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g.
Rhizobium) live in the roots of some plants. These plants are called
legumes (e.g. peas, clover etc). They have a symbiotic relationship
with the bacteria i.e. both the bacteria and the plant benefit from
working together.

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Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

d) Human influence on the environment

You need to know about the following environmental problems;

- Acid rain
- Greenhouse effect
- Eutrophication
- Deforestation

Acid rain:

SO2, CO2 and NOx (oxides of nitrogen) dissolve in rain to form

Sulphuric Acid, Carbonic Acid and Nitric Acid. This falls as acid
rain, which destroys soil, pollutes waterways and causes erosion

Greenhouse Effect:

Incoming radiation passes through the atmosphere and hits the

Earth, where it is absorbed. The Earth re-emits the radiation as
longer-wavelength Infra-Red radiation. This is the problem. IR
radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases on its way out of the
atmosphere. This traps the heat in the atmosphere.

The greenhouse gases are: water vapour, CO2, NOX, methane and
CFCs

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 Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness
Greenhouse Gas Source
Water Vapour Humans haven’t had much effect on this – its a
naturally occurring greenhouse gas
CO2 Released from burning fossil fuels
NOX Released from burning fossil fuels
Methane Produced by cows (yes, cow farts) and rice paddy
fields. As agriculture becomes more and more
intensive methane emissions rise
CFCs Used to be used as coolant in fridges and propellant
in aerosols. Now banned, but there are still lots of
old fridges in scrap yards leaking CFCs

The theory goes that the greenhouse effect is causing global

warming, which is bad. Global warming might cause;

- Polar ice cap melting

- Sea levels rising
- Extinction of species living in cold climates
- Changes in rainfall (both droughts and flooding)
- Changes in species distribution (i.e. tropical species spreading,
like mosquitoes)

Eutrophication:

1. Nitrate enters a waterway (sewage or fertilizer run-off)

2. Nitrate causes algal bloom

3. Algae block out light for plants living on the waterway bed

4. These plants respire as they can’t photosynthesize

5. O2 levels fall

6. Fish die

7. Dead fish are decomposed by bacteria, which themselves

respire, using up more O2

8. pH levels fall as decomposition produces acids

9. Everything dies. Waterway is incapable of supporting life

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Edexcel IGCSE Revision notes Written by Tim Filtness

Deforestation:

Cutting down trees and not replacing them is bad. It causes;

- Leaching of soil minerals

- Soil erosion (no roots holding soil together)
- Desertion (new deserts forming)
- Disturbance of the water cycle (less transpiration can lead to
flooding and / or drought)
- Increase in CO2 levels
- Decrease in O2 production

Over-fishing and over-grazing can cause food chains to collapse.

Section 5:
5: The use of Biological resources
a) Food production

Food Production using Crop plants:

Greenhouses and polythene tunnels raise the temperature (by the

greenhouse effect… guess why it’s called that), which increases the
rate of photosynthesis, which increases crop yield

Yield - The total mass of the edible part of crop

If the level of CO2 in the greenhouse is increased the yield will

further increase (remember, CO2 is a limiting factor in p/s)

If fertilizers are added (specifically those that contain Potasium,

Nitrate and Phosphate– KNP fertilisers) then the yield will increase
even more!

Potassium – essential for plant membranes

Nitrate – essential for making plant proteins

Phosphate – essential for DNA and membranes

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