click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
ecology flashcards
science class/McClendon/ecology
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Ecology | the study of how living and nonliving things interact in an ecosystem |
biotic | living parts of an ecosystem |
abiotic | nonliving parts in an ecosystem |
5 levels of environmental organization | organism, community, population, ecosystem, biosphere, |
organism | an individual animal, plant, or single celled life form |
population | all the members of one species in a particular area |
community | all the different populations that live together in an area |
ecosystem | all living and nonliving things that interact in an area |
biosphere | regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth occupied by living organisms |
producer/autotroph | an organism that is able to form from nutritional organic substance from simple inorganic substances |
consumer/heterotroph | an organism deriving it nutritional requirements from complex organic substances |
herbivore | animal that feeds on plants |
carnivore | animal that feeds on flesh |
omnivore | animals that eats food of both plants and animal origin |
scavenger | animals that feed on carrion, dead plant material, or refuse |
decomposer | an organism that decomposes organic material |
food web | a system of interlocking and independent food chains |
food chain | a series of organisms each dependent on the next as a food source |
energy pyramid | a graphical model of energy flow in a community |
limiting factor | environmental condition that limits the growth of an organism or population in an ecosystem |
carrying capacity | number of living organisms that a region can support without environmental degradation |
predator | an organism that does the killing |
prey | an animal that is hunted and killed by another for food |
predator adaptions | an adaption prey uses in chance of survival |
prey adaptions | adaptions predators and prey use to obtain food or avoid being eaten |
symbiosis | relationship between two species where only one benefits |
mutualism | a relationship that both species benefit |
commensalism | a relationship where one organism benefits and the other goes unharmed |
parasitism | a relationship when one organism (parasite) harms the host |