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Ecology Terms
Grade 9 science Ecology Terms and definitions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 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, things factors are organisms such as plants, animals mushrooms, bacteria, algae. |
| Ecosystem | Any network of interacting living and non-living factors. |
| natural Ecosystem | A natural ecosystem is neither planned nor maintained by people. |
| Artificial Ecosystem | Artificial Ecosystems are planned and maintained by people. Example: City,Zoo, Aquarium and farms. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms and an ecosystem that can be product with each other. |
| Population | A group of members of the same species that live in the same area. |
| Community | population 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 live 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. |
| Decomposers | a special group of consumers that breaks down organic matter and releases the nutrients back into the ecosystem. |
| Autotroph | Programs that can make their own food from basic nutrients and sunlight. example: 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. |
| Toxins | |
| Bioaccumulation | gradual build-up of chemicals in an organism’s body. |
| Respiration | |
| 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. |