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Ecology Terms
grade 9 Ecology Terms and Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ecology | Study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment in a system. |
| Abiotic | Non living things,physical things such as, minerals, air or things measured such as temperature, hours of daylight, salt concentration |
| Biotic | Living, these factors are organism such as plants, animals, mushrooms, bacteria, algae. |
| Ecosystem | Any network of interacting living & non-living factors. |
| Natural Ecosystem | A natural Ecosystem is neither planned nor maintained by people |
| Artificial Ecosystem | Artificial Ecosystem is planned and maintained by people. Examples are cities, zoos, Aquarium, Farms. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms in a Ecosystem that can reproduce with each other. |
| Population | A group of members of the same species that live in the same area . |
| Community | Populations of different species that live and interact in the same area. |
| Niche | All the interactions of a given species with its Ecosystem. |
| Biome | Large geographical region that contains similar ecosystems. |
| Terrestrial | Land- based/ aquatic- water based . |
| Biosphere | A part of our planet,including water,land and air where life exists. Biomes combine to form this. |
| Herbivores | An animal that eats ONLY plants. |
| Carnivores | An animal that eats mostly meat. |
| Omnivores | An animal that eats both plants and meat. |
| Predators | Animals that catches and feeds off of other living animals. |
| Scavengers | An animal that mostly eats decaying biomass. |
| Parasites | Obtain their food by feeding off another organism which continues to live. |
| Detritivores | A consumer that feeds on organic matter. |
| Decomposes | A special group of consumers that break down organic matter an relase the nutrients back into the ecosystems. |
| Autotroph | Organisms that can make their own food from basic nutrients and sunlight. Ex green,algae,plant |
| Heterotroph | Organisms that must feed on other organisms to obtain energy. |
| Food chains | Show A step -by- step sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem & the one-way flow energy from the producer to the top level consumer. |
| Photosynthesis | The process plants use to produce carbohydrates from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. (CO2+ H20+ Suger + O2) |
| Biodiversity | Number and range of different organisms in an area. |
| Toxins | |
| Bioaccumulation | Gradual build-up of chemicals in an organism’s body. |
| Respiration | Species that no longer exist in a particular region but still occurs elsewhere. |
| Extirpated | Species that no longer exist in a particular region but still occurs elsewhere. |
| Amphibious | Born in water, breathing with gills but can live on land or in water. |
| Carrying Capacity | Maximum number of individuals that an ecosystem can support without reducing its ability to support future generations of the same species. |
| Commensalism | Type of symbiosis in which one species benefits from a relationship without helping or harming the other species. |
| Mutulism | A type of symbiosis in which both species benefit from the symbiotic partnership. |
| Symbiosis | Close interaction between two different species in which members of one species lives in on or near members of another species. |
| Environment | All living things and nonliving things that exist on Earth. |
| Habitat | The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. |