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Ecology

TermDefinition
Ecology The scientific discipline in which the relationships among living organisms and the interactions the organisms have with their enviornments are studied.
Biosphere The portion of Earth that supports life.
Biotic factors The living factors in an organism's environment.
Abiotic factors The nonliving factors in an organism's environment.
Limiting factor Any abiotic or biotic factor that limits the numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.
Habitat An area where an organism lives.
Niche The role or position that an organism has in its environment. An organism's niche is how it meets its need for food, shelter, and reproduction.
Predation The act of one organism pursuing and consuming another organism for food.
Symbiosis The close relationship that exists when two or more species live together.
Mutualism The relationship between two or more organsims that live closely together and benefit from each other.
Commensalism A relationship in which one organsim benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Parasitism A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another organism.
Autotroph Also called a producer. An organism that collects energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to produce food.
Heterotroph Also called a consumer. An organism that gets its energy requirements by consuming other organisms.
Herbivore A heterotroph that only eats plants, such as a cow, rabbit, or grasshopper.
Carnivore Heterotrophs that prey on other hetertrophs, such as wolves, lions, and lynxes.
Omnivore Organisms that eat both plants and animals. Bears, humans, and mockingbirds are omnivores.
Detritivore Heterotrophs that eat fragments of dead matter in an ecosystem, returning nutrients to the soil, air, and water.
Decomposers Similar to detritivores. These heterotrophs break down dead organisms by releasing digestive enzymes. Fungi and bacteria are decomposers.
Trophic level Each step in a food web or food chain. It is also known as a feeding level.
Food chain A model that shows how energy flows through an ecosystem.
Food web A model representing the many interconnected food chains and pathways in which energy flows through a group of organisms.
Biomass The total mass of living matter at each trophic level. Decreases at each trophic level.
Nitrogen fixation Nitrogen gas from the atmosphere is converted into ammonium (NH4+). Specialized bacteria and other microorganisms perform nitrogen fixation.
Population A group of individuals belonging to the same species occupying a given area.
Biological community A group of interacting populations that occupy the same area at the same time.
Ecosystem A biological community and all the abiotic factors that affect it.
Density-independent factor Any factor that affects population growth and does not depend on the number of members in a population. These factors usually are abiotic and include weather events.
Density-dependent factor Any factor in the environment that depends on the number of members in a population per unit area. These factors are often biotic factors such as predation, disease, competition, and parasites.
Carrying capacity The maximum number of individuals in a species that an environment can support for the long term.
Biological magnification Increasing concentration of toxic substances in organisms as trophic levels increase in a food chain or food web.
Invasive species Species that have been introduced in an area that disrupts the habitat. These species are a threat to biodiversity.
Created by: user-1733795
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