Key term
OCR GCSE Geography A J383
Ecosystems of the Planet
Topic overviewAbiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interactThe world’s biomes: where they are and what they are likeWhere the tropical rainforests are, and what they are likeWhere the coral reefs are, and what they are likeRainforest processes and nutrient cyclingTwo threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reef
Environmental Threats to Our Planet
Topic overviewClimate change through the Quaternary, and since 1000ADThe evidence for climate changeNatural causes of climate change, and the enhanced greenhouse effectThe consequences of climate changeThe world’s climatic regions and global atmospheric circulationHow global circulation produces extreme weatherTropical storms: causes, distribution and frequencyA drought caused by El Niño or La Niña
Fieldwork Skills
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewConstructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transectsCoordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a mapGradient, contours, spot heights and GISChoosing, constructing and presenting graphs and chartsReading and interpreting the main graph and chart typesNumber, area, scale and the relationships between unitsProportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spreadPercentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheetsReading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate dataTrend lines and lines of best fitPredicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentationDrawing and justifying conclusions from dataInterpreting images and written sources, and recognising biasJudging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and images
Landscapes of the UK
People of the Planet
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development: ACs, EDCs and LIDCsWhy development is uneven, and the role of aidA developing or emerging country: its context and economyRostow’s model and the country’s path of developmentCities, megacities and world citiesWhy urban growth rates differ around the worldRapid urbanisation in poorer countries: causes and effectsA major city in a poorer or emerging country
People of the UK
Topic overviewThe UK’s trade, media and cultural links with the worldThe UK’s geographical diversity and its inequalitiesUneven development within the UK, and the effects of economic growthHow the UK’s population structure has changed since 1900Immigration into the UK in the twenty-first centuryUrban trends in the UK and their effectsA major UK city: its people, challenges and ways of life
UK Environmental Challenges
Topic overviewAir masses, the North Atlantic Drift and the UK’s extreme weatherA UK flood event: causes, effects and responsesHow people use, modify and change UK ecosystemsThe UK’s renewable and non-renewable energy sourcesChanging UK energy supply and demand, and sustainable useRenewables in the UK, and the future of fossil fuelsWhat shapes the UK’s energy choices
Ecosystems of the Planet
- 6 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- Component 02
What Ecosystems of the Planet covers
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.
The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Abiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interactWhat 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.Open →
- The world’s biomes: where they are and what they are likeWhat 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.Open →
- Where the tropical rainforests are, and what they are likeWhere 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.Open →
- Where the coral reefs are, and what they are likeWhere 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.Open →
- Rainforest processes and nutrient cyclingWhere 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.Open →
- Two threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reefHow 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.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Where are the world's main areas of tropical rainforest beyond the Amazon?
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Name four major coral reefs of the world and say where each one lies.
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What is an ecosystem?
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What is a biome?
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Moving outwards from the Equator towards the tropics, which land biomes follow one another?
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Which is the second largest area of tropical rainforest in the world, and where does it lie?
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Where is the Great Barrier Reef, and what makes it remarkable?
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Which three stores are used to describe the movement of nutrients through a forest?
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How does a rainforest generate much of its own rainfall?
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What are the main threats to biodiversity in a tropical rainforest?
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What is selective logging, and why is it more sustainable than felling everything?
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Which parts of an ecosystem are described as abiotic?
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Describe the climate of the polar regions.
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Which large island off the east coast of Africa carries its own tropical rainforest?
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Which sea between north-east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula holds a long fringing coral reef?
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Why is a reef damaged when extra nutrients wash in from the land?
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How can ecotourism help protect a threatened ecosystem?
Take Ecosystems of the Planet further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Abiotic vs Biotic
Abiotic: the non-living parts of an ecosystem, such as climate, water and soil. Biotic: the living parts of an ecosystem, such as plants, animals and people.
Biome vs Ecosystem
Biome: a very large living community with its own climate covering a whole region of the globe. Ecosystem: a community of living things together with the non-living surroundings they interact with.
Leaching vs Transpiration
Leaching: heavy rain washing dissolved nutrients down out of reach of plant roots. Transpiration: trees releasing water vapour from their leaves, which rises and condenses into rain.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is an ecosystem?
Model answer
A community of living things together with the non-living surroundings they live in, all of which interact with one another.
- 2
Which parts of an ecosystem are described as abiotic?
Model answer
The non-living ones, such as the weather, the climate, the water and the soil.
- 3
Which parts of an ecosystem are described as biotic?
Model answer
The living ones — the plants growing there, the animals feeding there and the people who use it.
- 4
What does it mean to say that the parts of an ecosystem are interdependent?
Model answer
Every part relies on the others, so a change in one of them forces changes in all the rest.
- 5
How does climate act as a control on the plant life of an ecosystem?
Model answer
Temperature, sunlight and rainfall decide which plants can survive there, and those plants then decide which animals can be fed.
- 6
How do growing plants change the soil beneath them?
Model answer
Their dead leaves rot down into humus, which adds nutrients and helps the soil hold water.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Ecosystems of the Planet revision questions
- What does Ecosystems of the Planet cover in OCR GCSE Geography A?
- 6 subtopics: 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. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Ecosystems of the Planet organised?
- By the OCR J383 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Ecosystems of the Planet, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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