Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Ecology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| abiotic factor | physical, or nonliving, factor |
| autotroph | organism that is capable of producing its own food; also called a producer |
| biogeochemical cycle | for example, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, carbon cycle |
| biomass | total amount of living tissue in a given trophic level |
| biotic factor | any living thing in an ecosystem |
| carnivore | consumer that eats animals |
| chemosynthesis | process used by bacteria near thermal vents to make "food" using chemical energy |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped |
| consumer | an organism that must rely on other organisms for its energy and food supply; also called a heterotroph |
| decomposer | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
| denitrification | process in which bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas |
| detritivore | organism that feeds on detritus |
| distrubance | anything that disrupts the balance of an ecosystem; i.e. forest fire |
| ecology | study of interactions among organisms and their environment |
| ecosystem | all of the living organisms that live in one place, plus the nonliving (abioitic) parts of the environment |
| food chain | clover --> rabbit --> hawk |
| food web | diagram showing all of the feeding relationships in an ecosystem |
| herbivore | organism that eats only plants/producers |
| heterotroph | organism that gets food by eating other living things; also called a consumer |
| keystone species | single species that keeps an entire community of organisms balanced |
| mutualism | example: bird eating leeches out of crocodiles mouth |
| nitrogen fixation | process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrate (a form that plants can use) |
| nutrient | chemical substance an organism needs to sustain life |
| omnivore | organism that gets energy/food by eating both plants and animals |
| parasitism | example: tick on a dog |
| photosynthesis | process used by plants and other autotrophs to capture light energy and use it to power chemical reactions |
| phytoplankton | photosynthetic algae found near surface of ocean; base of most marine food chains |
| pioneer species | first species to populate an area during succession(i.e. lichen) |
| lichen | pioneer species made of a fungus and photosynthetic bacteria that can attach to rock and break it down into soil |
| population | group of individuals of the same species living in an area |
| primary succession | change in ecosystem that starts with bare rock and takes an extremely long time to turn into a mature forest |
| producer | a photosynthetic or chemosynthetic organism that can make "energy-rich organic compounds" (in other words food) |
| scavenger | animal that eats the carcasses of other animals |
| secondary succession | change in ecosystem that starts after a disturbance when soil is already present |
| species | a group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| symbiosis | relationship between two species that live close together |
| trophic level | each step in a food chain or food web |
| zooplankton | small-free floating animals that eat phytoplankton and are the primary consumer in marine ecosystems |
| primary consumer | first consumer in ecosystem; eats plants/producers |
| secondary consumer | consumers that eat herbivores |
Created by:
cwill1217
Popular Ecology sets