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Ecology Vocabulary
8th Grade Science Unit 3 & 4
| Term | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Abiotic factor | A nonliving parts of an ecosystem. | Air, sunlight, soil, rocks, temperature, clouds, asphalt, dumpster, etc… |
| Adaptation | A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its natural environment. | Giraffe’s neck, humming bird’s beak, lions claws & teeth etc… |
| Biodiversity | The variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem. | Hundreds of different types plants in one square mile of a rainforest- high biodiversity. |
| Biotic factor | Anything living in an ecosystem. | Plants, animals, fungi, bacteria |
| Carnivore | An animal that eats only meat from other animals. | Lion, coyote, shark, snakes, owls, etc… |
| Catastrophic event | A disastrous event, natural or man-made that causes widespread damage or death. | Habitat destruction, pollution, development, overpopulation, war/ terrorism, etc… |
| Climax community | A community that exists in equilibrium and will not change drastically unless it is disturbed. | Forrest that has not be impacted by humans or catastrophic events |
| Community | All the different organisms (populations) that live together in an area. | San Antonio community would include trees, grass, animals, pets, people, etc... |
| Competition | Occurs when more than one individual or population tries to make use of the same resource. | Rams and deer fighting for mates, trees fighting for space, |
| Consumer | An organism that cannot make its own food so it obtains energy by feeding on other organisms. | All animals: humans, deer, bear, rabbits |
| Decomposers | An organism that breaks down dead organisms to recycle nutrients back into the environment. | Bacteria and fungi are the most common decomposers. |
| Ecosystem | All the living and nonliving things that interact in an area. | All the living animals in a forest interacting with the water, dirt, air, and temperature in the forest |
| Energy pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy transferred from one feeding level to another in a food chain. | Trophic pyramid. |
| Environment | The surroundings of an organism. | A squirrel’s environment is a tree in a forest. |
| Food chain | A series of events in which one organism eats another. | Grass-->Rabbit-->Fox |
| Food web | The pattern of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. | All of the feeding relationships within a lake or a forest. |
| Herbivore | An animal that eats only plants. | Rabbits, cows, zebras, giraffes, etc… |
| Light Quantity | The amount of sunlight in an area that reaches the ground. | The light reaching the ground in a field is greater than in a forest. |
| Limiting factors | Resources which may limit the number of organisms supported by an ecosystem. | Food, water, soil, space, etc… |
| Mutations | Random changes in genes that cause variations that can be helpful or harmful. | Extra digits, abnormal coloring, extra chromosomes, some diseases, etc…. |
| Natural selection | The process by which organisms best adapted to their environment survive & reproduce to pass on favorable traits to their offspring. | Brightly colored birds are more likely to attract mates so they reproduce causing all the birds to eventually be brightly colored. |
| Nutrients | Food or any nourishing substance required by organisms to live and grow. | Food, elements plants need, water, etc… |
| Omnivore | An animal that eats both plants and animals. | Bears, raccoons, humans, chimps, etc… |
| Organism | Any living thing. | Plants, fungi, animals, bacteria, etc… |
| Population | All of the organisms of the same species that live in area at the same time. | All of the zebras living around a water source in Africa. |
| Primary Consumer | An animal that eats plants in a food chain – an herbivore. | Occupies the second trophic level in an energy pyramid. |
| Producer | An organism that can make its own food, usually by converting sunlight into glucose (sugar). | Plants. |
| Resources | Biotic and abiotic factors that an organism needs in order to survive. | Food, water, space, mates, etc… |
| Scarce | Restricted in quantity | Water in a dessert. |
| Secondary Consumer | An organism that feeds on herbivores in a food chain. | Occupies the third trophic level in an energy pyramid. |
| Space | An area where an organism lives and competes for biotic and abiotic factors. | A bear’s in a forest competes for food with other animals in that space. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms that can mate with one another and produce fertile offspring. | Brown bears, grizzly bears, polar bear, American black bear, etc… |
| Temperature Range | The difference between the average high temperature and average low temperature. | Temperatures in the Amazon Rainforest will be between 22C to 33C. |
| Tertiary Consumer | A predator that eats another animal in a food chain. | Occupies the fourth trophic level in an energy pyramid. |
| Tolerance | ability of an organism to endure unfavorable environmental conditions | Polar Bears have a cold tolerance due to their excess fat and adaptation of hibernation. |
| Ecological Succession | The changing sequence of communities that live in an ecosystem during a given time period. | An environment starts simple with few organisms and diversifies over time to climax community. |
| Pioneer Species | First organisms to live in an area. | Primary: lichen, mosses, bacteria Secondary: grass and weeds |
| Primary Succession | A process that develops a biotic community in a previously uninhabited and barren habitat with little or no soil. | New environment or one affected by a large volcanic eruption. Usually starts with lichen. |
| Secondary Succession | A process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species. | After a wildfire an environment must rebuild itself through secondary succession. |
| Environmental Impacts | Change in an ecosystem . Can last a few hours up to a permanent change. | Ex: flood, drought, volcanic eruption, deforestation, global warming, invasive species, etc... |
Created by:
kara.mabele
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