Summary Geography AQA GCSE, Paper 1: Topic 2; Living Worlds
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Course
Geography
Institution
GCSE
Geography AQA GCSE
All content in the second third of Paper one Content.
Everything you need to know about Living worlds, with adequate detail.
Includes case studies and visual guides.
Living Worlds
2.1
Keywords and understanding of ecosystems:
● Ecosystem - a community of plants and animals( biotic) alongside inorganic (Abiotic) components
such as rocks, solid, inputs including sunlight, rain etc.
● Biotic - Living/once living
● Abiotic - never living (rocks, sunlight)
● Biome - Global ecosystem
● Producers- they convert energy from the environment, mostly sunlight into sugars. E.g. plants
converting sunlight into glucose.
● Primary consumers - they get their energy from sugars produced by the producer. They consume
the producer.
● Secondary consumers - These get their energy from eating the primary consumers or other
consumers at this level.
● Decomposers - they break down plant and animal material and return the nutrients to the soil,
bacteria, worms and fungi are all examples of this.
● Nutrient cycling- nutrients are foods that make the animals and plants grwi, they mostly come
from rainwater washing them into the soil from the atmosphere, or weathering of the rocks.
● Food web - more complex web of connections between different producers, consumers etc.
● Food chain - a simple list showing the direct links between producers and consumers.
● Pyramid of biomass - shows the weight of biomass in each layer of a food chain. (The energy
gets lost through the chain as, not only will the consumer take part of its food, but because
calories are burned through movement respiration, body heat, reproduction, etc.
Human impact on small scale ecosystems:
● Agricultural fertilizers can lead to eutrophication.Nitrates increase growth of algae, which will
deplete oxygen, and fish will die.
● Wood cut down destroys habitats for birds and affects the nutrient cycle.
● Hedgerows removed to increase size of fields. Habitats will be destroyed, altering plant/animal
balance.
● Harvesting plants and hunting animals can unbalance the flows and cycles with the ecosystem.
● Ponds drained for farming means aquatic wildlife will die.
● Overfishing threatens species and harms food webs.
● Tree felling means there is a lack of shade and moisture in soil which is known as desertification.
This will lead to soil erosion and habitat loss.
Wind formation:
- Sunlight strikes the ground near the equator, warming it. The air above becomes warm and rises.
- As warm, moist air rises, it cools, condensing into rain clouds. It rains regularly.
- The air moves away from the equator and becomes warm and dry. As it moves, it cools enough
to sink.
- There air is now dry, meaning there are less clouds and no rain
Cool air takes the place of the risen warm air, and the cycle starts again. This cycle is known as a ‘cell’,
what have specific names depending on the area
11
, Biomes and their properties:
2.2A
12
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