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Unit 4 – Populations and the environment
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
AQA
SPEC
Populations
Populations
and
ecosystems
What is meant by the
terms‘environment’,
‘biotic’, ‘abiotic’ and
‘biosphere’?
3.4.1
What is an ecosystem?
What is meant by the
terms ‘population’,
‘community’ and
‘habitat’?
What is a niche?
Investigating
populations
What factors should be
considered when using a
quadrat?
3.4.1
How is a transect used to
obtain quantitative data
about changes in
communities along a
line?
How is the abundance of
different species
measured?
How can the markrelease-recapture
method be used to
measure the abundance
of mobile species?
Variation in
population
size
What factors determine
the size of a population?
3.4.1
Which abiotic factors
affect the size of a
population?
How do each of these
factors influence
population size?
Competition
What is intraspecific
competition?
3.4.1
What factors do different
species compete for?
What is interspecific
competition?
How does interspecific
competition influence
population size?
Predation
What is predation?
3.4.1
How does the predator–
prey relationship affect
the population size of the
predator and prey?
Human
populations
How does the human
population growth curve
differ from that of most
other organisms?
What factors affect the
growth and size of
human populations?
3.4.1

NOTES
2
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
SPEC
What is energy and why
do organisms need it?
3.4.2
ATP
Energy and
ATP
How does ATP store
energy?
How is ATP synthesised?
What is the role of ATP in
biological processes?
Photosynthesis
Overview of
photosynthesis
How is the plant leaf
adapted to carry out
photosynthesis?
3.4.3
What are the main
stages of
photosynthesis?
The lightdependent
reaction
What are oxidation and
reduction?
3.4.3
How is ATP made
during the lightdependent reaction?
What is the role of
photolysis in the lightdependent reaction?
How are chloroplasts
adapted to carry out
the light-dependent
reaction?
The lightindependent
reaction
How is the carbon
dioxide absorbed by
plants incorporated into
organic molecules?
3.4.3
What are the roles of
ATP and reduced NADP
in the light-independent
reaction?
What is the Calvin
cycle?
Factors
affecting
photosynthesis
What is meant by the
concept of limiting
factors?
How can
photosynthesis be
measured?
How do temperature,
carbon dioxide
concentration and light
intensity affect the rate
of photosynthesis?
3.4.3

NOTES
3
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
SPEC
Where does glycolysis fit
into the overall process
of respiration?
3.4.4
Respiration
Glycolysis
What are the main stages
of glycolysis?
What are the products of
glycolysis?
Link reaction
and Krebs
cycle
What is the link reaction?
3.4.4
What happens during the
Krebs cycle?
What are hydrogen
carrier molecules and
what is their role in the
Krebs cycle?
Electron
transport
chain
Where does the electron
transport chain take
place?
3.4.4
How is ATP synthesised in
the electron transport
chain?
What is the role of
oxygen in aerobic
respiration?
Anaerobic
respiration
How is energy released
by respiration in the
absence of oxygen?
How is ethanol produced
by anaerobic respiration?
How is lactate produced
by anaerobic respiration?
3.4.4

NOTES
4
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
SPEC
Energy and ecosystems
Food chains
and food webs
How does energy enter
an ecosystem?
3.4.5
How is energy
transferred between the
organisms in the
ecosystem?
What is meant by the
terms: ‘trophic level’,
‘food chain’, ‘food web’,
‘producer’, ‘consumer’
and ‘decomposer’?
How is energy lost from
the ecosystem?
Energy
transfer
between
trophic levels
What percentage of
energy is transferred
from one trophic level to
the next?
3.4.5
How is energy lost along
a food chain?
Why do most food chains
have no more than five
trophic levels?
How is the percentage
efficiency of energy
transfers calculated?
Ecological
pyramids
What are the different
types of ecological
pyramid?
3.4.5
What are the relative
merits and disadvantages
of each?
Agricultural
ecosystems
What is an agricultural
ecosystem?
3.4.5
How do natural and
agricultural ecosystems
differ?
What is meant by
productivity?
How is net productivity
calculated?
Chemical and
biological
control of
agricultural
pests
What are pests and
pesticides?
What are the features of
an efficient pesticide?
How are biological agents
used to control pests?
What is integrated pest
management?
3.4.5

NOTES
5
Intensive
rearing of
domestic
livestock
How does rearing
animals intensively
increase the efficiency of
energy conversion?
3.4.5
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
SPEC
Nutrient cycles
The carbon
cycle
Where does carbon enter
the living component of
an ecosystem?
3.4.6
Where does carbon enter
the non-living
component of an
ecosystem?
What role is played by
saprobiotic organisms in
the carbon cycle?
The
greenhouse
effect and
global
warming
What is the greenhouse
effect?
3.4.6
Which are the major
greenhouse gases and
where do they come
from?
Why is the production of
greenhouse gases
increasing?
How do greenhouse
gases contribute to
global warming?
What are the
consequences of global
warming?
The nitrogen
cycle
How is nitrogen recycled
in ecosystems?
What is the role of
saprobiotic
microorganisms in this
recycling?
What do you understand
by the terms
‘ammonification’,
‘nitrification’, ‘nitrogen
fixation’ and
‘denitrification’?
Where does nitrogen
enter the living
component of an
ecosystem?
Where does nitrogen
enter the non-living
component of an
ecosystem?
3.4.6

NOTES
6
Use of natural
and artificial
fertilisers
Why are fertilisers
needed in agricultural
ecosystems?
3.4.6
How do natural and artifi
cial fertilisers differ?
How do fertilisers
increase productivity?
Environmental
consequences
of using
nitrogen
fertilisers
What are the main
environmental effects of
using nitrogen fertilisers?
3.4.6
What is meant by
‘leaching’ and
‘eutrophication’?
How do these processes
affect the environment?
Ecological succession
Succession
What changes occur in
the variety of species
that occupy an area over
time?
3.4.7
What are meant by the
terms succession and
climax community?
How can managing
succession help to
conserve habitats?
Conservation
of habitats
What is conservation?
TOPIC
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
3.4.7
How can managing
succession help to
conserve habitats?
SPEC
Inheritance and selection
Studying
inheritance
What are meant by the
terms ‘genotype’ and
‘phenotype’?
3.4.8
What are dominant,
recessive and codominant alleles?
What are multiple
alleles?
Monohybrid
inheritance
How are genetic crosses
represented?
3.4.8
How is a single gene
inherited?
Sex
inheritance
and sex
linkage
How is sex determined
genetically?
What is sex linkage?
How are sex linked
diseases such as
haemophilia inherited?
3.4.8

NOTES
7
Co-dominance
and multiple
alleles
How does co-dominance
affect the inheritance of
characteristics?
3.4.8
How do multiple alleles
affect inheritance?
How are blood groups in
humans inherited?
Allelic
frequencies
and
population
genetics
What are meant by the
terms ‘gene pool’ and
‘allelic frequency’?
3.4.8
What is the Hardy–
Weinberg principle?
How can the Hardy–
Weinberg principle be
used to calculate allele,
genotype and phenotype
frequencies?
Selection
How does reproductive
success affect allele
frequency within a gene
pool?
3.4.8
What is selection?
What environmental
factors exert selection
pressure?
What are stabilising and
directional selection?
Speciation
What is speciation?
What is geographical
isolation?
How can geographical
isolation lead to the
formation of new
species?
3.4.8