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Biology
The Ecosystem
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Detritus | Dead organic matter |
| Ecologists... | Study relationships between organisms and their environment Predict what would happen if some factors were to change Recommend steps to change an environment or organisms in it |
| Ecosystem | All living things and all the nonliving factors and their interactions within a limited area |
| Distinct but interacting parts of ecosystem | Abiotic Environment and Biotic community |
| Abiotic Environment | All non-living factors in ecosystem |
| Radiation | Heat and light |
| Atmosphere | Mixture of gases/atomic pressure |
| Wind/Water Currants | Force, direction; tree line |
| Water | One of the most crucial factors in any ecosystem |
| Water Cycle | The cyclic movement of water; begins with evaporation and transpiration of water from surface water sources and plants; this water moves into the atmosphere and condenses to form clouds which will lead to precipitation falling to earth |
| Biotic Community | All living organisms in an ecosystem |
| Populations | all members of similar organisms, often species |
| Producer | Those organism that produce their own food primarily via photosynthesis (autotrophs--> plant, algae) |
| Consumer | Consume all or part of other organisms for food (heterotrophs--> animals, fungi, humans, protozoans) |
| Productivity | The rate of photosynthesis carried on by the producers in an ecosystem. About 50% of all light energy available to plants is absorbed, used for metabolic processes and stored as sugar |
| Food Chain | Nutritional relationship between organism in an ecosystem; represents the transfer of energy |
| Example of food chain | Algae-->aquatic arthropod-->minnow-->sea bass |
| Food web | Multiple nutritional relationships within an ecosystem and its neighboring ecosystems |
| Neutralism | unrelated; toad eats insects/bird eats seeds |
| Competition | depend on same food; snake and hawk both eat mice |
| Amenalism | 1 population inhibited by 2nd population, but 2 population not affected by the 1st. Rhino trampling through and eating grass that lizard lives in |
| Predation | One organism eats another; predator/prey |
| Parasitism | Parasite depends on host; many fungi/bacteria |
| Commensalism | 1st population benefits from 2nd population, while 2nd population not affected by 1st; vulture cleaning up remains after lions has had his fill of the prey; vulture cleaning up remains after lion has had his fill of the prey |
| Mutualism | Both populations benefit; birds eating insects off elephants back |
| Symbiosis | "together for life" (sym= together, bios= life) |
| Mimicry | Action of imitating someone or something (walking stick bug) |
| Warning Coloration | Conspicuous coloring that warns predator that animal is dangerous (poison dart frog) |
| Protective Coloration | Coloring that disguises a plant or animal (tiger stripes) |
| Biosphere | The thin shell around the earth in which all known physically living things exist |
| Habitat | area where a type of organism lives |
| Niche | What an organism does and how it fits into and affects its habitat (its job) |
| Oxygen Cycle/Carbon Cycle | Oxygen cycle- cycle within ecosystem Carbon cycle- dark phase of photosynthesis |
| Noncyclic | (example, energy) Anything that is not cyclic. Anything that is not used and reused within the environment |
| Limiting factors | Factors which in some way limit the growth or existence of an organism |
| Diurnal | Those organisms which are active during the day |
| Nocturnal | Those organisms which are active at night |
| Seasonal Rhythms | Rotate on a yearly cycle; hibernation/migration |
| Lunar Rhythms | Most pronounced along edges of oceans where tides effect organisms |
| Succession | Predictable, gradual change of biotic community over a period of time |
| Energy Pollutants | Factors caused by man that act upon an environment in a harmful way (heat, radiation) |
| Substance Pollutants | Objects or chemicals that are placed or released in the environment |
| Biodegradable | Pollutants that the environment can breakdown and return to the normal cycling of substance |
| Nonbiodegradable | Pollutants that stay in their original form and cannot be broken apart in the environment |
Created by:
sarahfranklin
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