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Ecology
Biology - Ecology Unit
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| population | all the individuals of a single species that live in a specific area |
| community | a combination of all the different populations that live and interact in the same environment |
| biotic | the living parts of the environment |
| abiotic | nonliving parts of the environment |
| species | a group of organisms that share certain characteristics and can mate with one another, producing fertile offspring |
| ecosystem | all the living and nonliving things that interact in a specific area; a subdivision of the environment |
| niche | the specific role played by an organism in its ecosystem |
| habitat | the place where an animal or plant lives |
| autotroph | an organism that produces its own food; the source of energy for all other living things on Earth |
| heterotroph | the organism that cannot make its own food; a consumer |
| producer | an organism that makes its own food from light energy and inorganic materials |
| consumer | an organism that obtains its energy from producers |
| decomposer | an organism, generally a bacterium or fungus, that consumes dead organisms and organic waste |
| herbivore | an organism that eats only plants |
| carnivore | an organism that survives by eating animals |
| tundra | characterized by permafrost (frozen subsoil), strong winds, low precipitation, short and soggy summers, long, cold and dark winters; poor soil |
| taiga | biome with long cold winters and a few months of warm weather; dominated by coniferous evergreens; also called boreal forest |
| desert | have less than 25 cm of rain annually, extreme daily temperature changes, soils rich in mineral but poor in organic material |
| rainforest | 2 meters of rain per year, tall trees from dense, leafy canopy, organic matter on forest floor is recycled and reused quickly so the soil is not very rich in nutrients |
| grassland | aka savanna - receives more rain than deserts but less than dry forests, warm and hot summer, cold winter, fertile soils, frequent fires |
| deciduous forest | trees that shed leaves during a particular season of each year |
| pioneer organism | the first organisms to become established in a new habitat |
| symbiosis | relationship in which two species live close together |
| succession | changes over time (in an environment) |
| saprophyte | a plant, fungus, or microorganism that lives on dead or decaying organic matter |
| omnivore | organism that obtains energy by eating both plants and animals |
| predator | an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food |
| prey | an animal that is hunted and killed by predators |
| food web | a representation of many interconnected food chains that shows the feeding relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers |
| food chain | a representation that identifies the specific feeding relationships among organisms |
| nitrogen fixing bacteria | process by which nitrogen forms compounds that be used by living things (bacteria in legumes that convert nitrogen to ammonia) |
| nitrifying bacteria | group of aerobic bacteria that use inorganic chemicals as an energy source |
| denitrifying bacteria | process by which bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere |
| parasite | an organism that survives by living and feeding on other organisms |
| prey | an animal that is hunted and killed by predators |
| host | the organism in a parasitic relationship that provides a home and/or food for the parasite |
| legume | plants, such as peanuts and peas, that have bacteria on their roots used to convert nitrogen gas to ammonia (nitrogen fixation) |
| lichen | symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism |
| conifer | tree that produces seed-bearing cones and have thin leaves shaped like needles |
| scavengers | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it |
| biome | large groups of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms; examples include the tundra, taiga, temperate forest, chaparral, tropical rain forest, desert, temperate grassland, tropical savanna grassland, and polar and high-mountain ice |
| biosphere | all of Earth's ecosystems, collectively; the biologically inhabited portions of Earth, including all of the water, land, and air in which organisms survive |
| transpiration | the process whereby plants absorb water through their roots and eliminate it through tiny pores on the undersides of their leaves |
| competition | the struggle between organisms for the same limited resources in a particular area |
| climax community | a relatively diverse and stable ecosystem that is the end result of succession |
| selective breeding | the process of choosing a few organisms with desirable traits to serve as the parents of the next generation |
| photosynthesis | the process by which some organisms are able to capture light energy and use it to make food from carbon dioxide and water |
Created by:
WGZimm
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