Question | Answer |
ecology | scientific study of interactions among organismsand their environment |
bioshere | part of earth in which life exists including land water and air or atmoshere |
species | group of similar organisms that can breed and reproduce fertile offspring |
population | group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area |
community | assemblage of different popu,ations that lived together in a defined area |
ecosystem | collection of ALL THE ORGANISMS THAT LIVE IN A PARTICULAR PLACE TOgether with their nonliving environment |
autotroph | organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food inorganic compounds also called a producer |
heterotroph | organism that obtains energy forom the food it consumes also called a consumer |
food web | network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among the various oganisms in an ecosystem |
trophic level | step in food chain or food web |
biomass | total amoount of livin gtissue within a given trophic level |
biogoechemical cycle | process in which elements, chemical compounds and other forms of matter are passed from one oraganism to another and from one parts of the bioshpere to another. |
limiting nutrients | single nutrient that is scarce or cycles very slowly, limiting the growth of organisms in the ecosystem |
weather | condition of earths atmosphere ata particular time and place |
climate | average year after year conditions of temperture and precipiation in a perticular region |
green house effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in earths atmosphere by cobon dioxide, methane, water vapor and other gases |
biotic factor | biological influence on organisms within the ecosystem |
abiotic factor | phsical non living factor that shapes the ecosystem |
niche | full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organisms use those conditions |
logistic growth | growth pattern in which a populations growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth |
carrying compacity | largest number of indiduals of a population that a given envirnment can support |
demography | scientific study of human populations |
demographic transition | change in population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates |
green revolution | the development of highly productive crop strains and the use of modern agricultural techniques to increase yeilds of food crops |
renewable resource | resource that can regenerate quickly and that is peplacrable |
popullant | harmful material that can enter the bioshere through the land air or water |
biodiversity | biologicalo diversity ths sum total of the variety of organisms in the biosphere |
biological magnification | increasin concentration of a harmful substance in organisms at higher trophic levels int he food chqain or food web |