Ecosystems of the Planet | OCR GCSE Geography A (J383)

Ecosystems of the Planet

82 questions
6 subtopics
Component 02
Component 02

Ecosystems of the Planet is examined in Component 02, The World Around Us.

It covers abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interact, the world’s biomes: where they are and what they are like, where the tropical rainforests are, and what they are like, where the coral reefs are, and what they are like, rainforest processes and nutrient cycling and two threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reef.

Sample questions from Ecosystems of the Planet

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interact

What does it mean to say that the parts of an ecosystem are interdependent?

Show the answer
Every part relies on the others, so a change in one of them forces changes in all the rest.
Abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interact

What job do decomposers do in an ecosystem?

Show the answer
Bacteria and fungi break down dead plants and animals and release the nutrients they held back into the soil.
The world’s biomes: where they are and what they are like

How are the plants and animals of the polar regions adapted to the cold?

Show the answer
Mosses and dwarf shrubs grow low to the ground out of the wind, while polar bears and seals carry thick fur or a layer of blubber for insulation.
The world’s biomes: where they are and what they are like

How are the plants of a temperate grassland adapted to drought, fire and grazing?

Show the answer
Grasses grow from the base and have deep, dense mats of roots, so they survive when the top is burnt, grazed or dried out, while trees are too short of water to grow.
Where the tropical rainforests are, and what they are like

Which large island off the east coast of Africa carries its own tropical rainforest?

Show the answer
Madagascar, whose eastern side holds rainforest full of species found nowhere else in the world.
Where the tropical rainforests are, and what they are like

Describe the climate of a tropical rainforest.

Show the answer
Hot every month at around 27 °C with little seasonal change, and rain in every month, typically well over 2,000 mm a year, so there is no dry season.
Where the coral reefs are, and what they are like

Where is the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, and which countries does it run past?

Show the answer
In the Caribbean Sea, along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
Where the coral reefs are, and what they are like

Why must warm water coral grow in shallow, clear water?

Show the answer
Because the algae living inside it need sunlight to photosynthesise, and light cannot reach them through deep or sediment-clouded water.

The 6 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interact	What an ecosystem is, its abiotic and biotic parts, interdependence, climate as a control on plants, how plants build soil, people and decomposers, and how one change spreads through a food web.	10
The world’s biomes: where they are and what they are like	What a biome is, where the polar regions, hot deserts, temperate forests and grasslands lie, why deserts sit near 30°, the climates of polar, desert, savanna, temperate grassland and temperate forest biomes, and how plants and animals from cacti and baobabs to camels, fennec foxes and bison are adapted to them.	22
Where the tropical rainforests are, and what they are like	Where the Amazon, Congo Basin, Central American, Madagascan, South East Asian and Australasian rainforests lie, why rainforests grow near the Equator, the rainforest climate, its layers from the emergents down to the shrub layer, and how drip tips and buttress roots suit trees to heavy rain and thin soils.	10
Where the coral reefs are, and what they are like	Where the Great Barrier Reef, the Red Sea reef and the New Caledonia, Mesoamerican, Florida and Andros reefs lie, why warm water coral needs tropical, shallow and clear seas, what a coral polyp builds, and how coral and the algae called zooxanthellae depend on each other.	10
Rainforest processes and nutrient cycling	Where a rainforest holds its nutrients, the biomass, litter and soil stores, leaching, how the forest makes its own rain, what clearance does, and how a coral reef recycles nutrients.	10
Two threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reef	How climate, soil, plants, animals and people depend on each other in a rainforest and a coral reef, why rainforests are fragile, the value of both to people and the planet, clearance, logging and bleaching, selective logging, ecotourism and marine protected areas, and the Amazon and the Great Barrier Reef as case studies.	20

Ecosystems of the Planet is 82 of the 749 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.