The following links offer some useful revision on Ecosystems to support your learning:
West OS – Ecosystems
To help with your learning, you may also wish to try some of the following resources:
Ecosystems PPQs & Marking Scheme
Within the National 5 Biology course, you will need to know:
- Definitions of ecological terms: species, biodiversity, population, producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, prey, food chain, food web.
- An ecosystem consists of all the organisms (the community) living in a particular habitat and the non-living components with which the organisms interact.
- Interactions of organisms in food webs.
- A niche is the role that an organism plays within a community. It relates to the resources it requires in its ecosystem, such as light and nutrient availability and its interactions with other organisms in the community. It involves competition and predation and the conditions it can tolerate such as temperature.
- Competition in ecosystems occurs when resources are in short supply.
- Interspecific competition occurs amongst individuals of different species for one or a few of the resources they require.
- Intraspecific competition occurs amongst individuals of the same species and is for all resources required. Intraspecific competition is therefore more intense than interspecific competition.
