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Ecology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ecology | scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their enviroment |
| Biosphere | part of Earth in which life exists including land, water and air or atmosphere |
| Species | group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| Population | group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area |
| Community | assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area |
| Ecosystem | collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place |
| Biome | group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities |
| Autotroph/producer | organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce it's own food |
| Heterotroph | organism that contains energy from the food it consume |
| Photosynthesis | process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen |
| Chemosynthesis | process by which some organisms use chemical energy to make carbohydrates |
| Herbivore | organism that only eats plants |
| Carnivore | organism that eats animals |
| Omnivore | organism that eats plants and animals |
| Detritiovore | organism that feeds on plants and animal remains |
| Decomposer | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
| Food Chain | series of steps in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| Food Web | network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relations among organisms |
| Trophic Level | step in a food chain or food web |
| Ecological Pyramid | diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in a food chain or food web |
| Nutrients | chemical substance that an organism requires to live |
| Biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level |
| Biogeochemical Cycle | process in which elements, chemical bounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to the other |
| Nitrogen Fixation | process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia |
| Demtitrification | areas with any climates, a process caused by a combination of poor farming practices |
| Evaporations | process by which water turns into gas |
| Transpiration | loss of water through a plant |
| Primary Productivity | rate at which organic matter is created in an ecosystem |
| Limited Nutrient | nutrient that is scarce of of cycles very close |
| Greenhouse Effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by which carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and other gases |
| Biotic Factor | Biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem |
| Habitat | the area where an organism lives |
| Niche | full large or physical and biological conditions in which an organisms lives in the way in which the organism uses those conditions |
| Resource | any necessity of life |
| Competitive Exclusion | two species can occupy the same exact niche in the same habitat at the same time |
| Predation | one organism captures and feeds another organism |
| Symbiosois | when two species live closely together |
| Mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship |
| Commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one member benefits and neither helped nor harmed |
| Parasitism | one organism lives on another organism |
| Ecological Succesion | gradual change in living communities that follows a disturbance |
| Primary Succestion | succesion that occurs on surfaces where no soil exists |
| Pioneer Species | first species to populate an area during primary sucession |
| Secondary Succession | succession following a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil |
| Population Density | number of individuals per unit of area |
| Immigration | movement of individuals into an area occupied by an existing population |
| Emigration | movement of individuals out of an area |
| Exponential Growth | growth pattern in which the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate |
| Logistic Growth | growth pattern in which a populations growth rate slows or stops following a period of exponential growth |
| Carrying Capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a given enviroment can support |
| Density dependent Factor | limiting factor that depends on population size |
| Predator Prey Relationship | mechanism of population control in which a population is regulated by predation |
| Density Independent Factor | limiting factor that affects all populations to similar ways, regardless of population size |
| Demography | scientific study of human population |
| Age-Structure Diagram | graph of the numbers of males and females within a different age groups of a population |
Created by:
Oppties
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