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Ecology Terms
Gr 9 Ecology Terms/Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ecology | The study of how organisms interact with each other, and there environment in a system. |
| Abiotic | Non living things, physical things like, minerals, air or thing measured as temperatures, hours of daylight, salt concentration. |
| Biotic | Living , these factors are organisms like plant, animals, mushrooms, bacteria, algae. |
| Ecosystem | Any network of interacting living and non living factors. |
| Natural Ecosystem | Is neither planned nor maintained by people. |
| Artificial ecosystem | Is planned and maintained by people examples ,city, zoo, aquarium and Farms. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms in an ecosystem that can reproduce with each other. |
| Population | A group of similar organisms in an ecosystem that can reproduce with each other. |
| community | Populations of different species that can 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 only eats plants. |
| Carnivores | An animal that eats mostly meat. |
| Omnivores | An animal that eats both plants and meat. |
| Predators | Animals that catches and feeds all other living animals. |
| Scavengers | 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 |
| Decomposers | A special group of consumers that break down organic matter and release the nutrients back into the ecosystem. |
| Autotroph | Organisms that can make their own food from basic nutrients and sunlight. Examples:green plant,algae. |
| 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 of 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→ sugar + O2). |
| Biodiversity | Number and range of different organisms in an area. |
| Bioaccumulation | Gradual build-up of chemicals in an organism’s body. |
| 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. |
| Mutualism | 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. |