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Biology unit 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Biosphere | all parts of Earth in which life exists |
| ecology | study of nature's "house", organisms that live in those houses, and interactions based on energy and nutrients |
| ecosystem | all the organisms that live in a place, together with their physical environment |
| community | an assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area |
| population | a group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area |
| species | a group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| biotic factor | any living part of the environment with which an organism might interact |
| abiotic factor | any nonliving part of the environment, such as sunlight, heat,precipitation, humidity, wind and water currents, and soil type |
| atmosphere | includes all the gases that surround the Earth |
| hydrosphere | all Earth's fresh and saltwater, including water vapor and rain in the atmosphere, and water underground |
| geosphere | all the ""usually solid stuff" - rocks, continents, and the ocean floor. Deep inside Earth |
| climate | patterns and averages of temperature, precipitation, clouds, and wind over many years |
| weather | consists of short-term changes in temperature, precipitation, clouds, and wind from day to day, or minute to minute |
| greenhouse effect | the gases allow visible light to enter but trap heat |
| biomes | ecologists typically classify the homes of organisms into roughly ten different regional climate communities |
| canopy | tall trees from a dense, leafy covering |
| understory | shade below canopy, vines, and short trees |
| humus | a material formed from decaying leaves and other organic matter |
| permafrost | layer of permanently frozen subsoil |
| photic zone | sunlight (lit) region near the surface in which photosynthesis can occur |
| aphotic zone | below the photic zone in a dark area |
| plankton | floating algae-called phytoplankton - and small free-swimming animals called zooplankton |
| wetland | an ecosystem in which a water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface for at least part of the year |
| estuary | a wetland formed where a river meets the sea, fresh water and salt water often mix there |
| autotrophs | capture energy from nonliving sources and convert it into forms living cells can use |
| photosynthesis | CO2 + H2O + light - carbohydrates + O2 |
| producers | the first producers of energy-rich compounds that can be used later on by other organisms |
| chemosynthesis | chemical energy is used to produce carbohydrates |
| heterotrophs | acquire energy from other organisms, usually by eating them |
| consumers | organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients |
| food chain | a series of organisms in which energy is transferred from organism to another |
| phytoplankton | primary producers are usually tiny floating algae |
| food web | ecologists call this network of feeding interactions, through which both energy and matter move |
| trophic level | each step in a food chain or food web |
| ecological pyramids | models that show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or web |
| biomass | the total amount of living tissue within a given topic level |
| nutrients | elements that an organism needs to sustain life |
| nitrogen fixation | only certain types of bacteria can convert nitrogen gas into ammonia |
| denitrification | bacteria obtain energy by converting nitrates into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere |
| population density | the number of individuals that can be found per unit area |
| population distribution | describes the way individuals are spaced out across their wage |
| immigration | population may increase if individuals move into its range from elsewhere |
| emigration | a population may decrease in size if individuals move out of the population's range |
| exponential growth | the population increases rapidly as more and more offspring as produced in a situation |
| carrying capacity | the maximum number of individuals of a particular species that a particular environment can support |
| limiting factors | any factor that the controls the growth of a population |
| habitat | an actual place an organism lives |
| tolerance | the variety of environmental conditions within which it can survive and reproduce |
| niche | where an organism lives and what it does "for a living" |
| competitive exclusion principle | no two species can occupy exactly the same niche in exactly the habitat at the exactly same time |
| keystone species | an organism that has a massive impact on its natural environment to it's small population size |
| symbiosis | a particularly close, interdependent relationship between two species |
| commensalism | a relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harm |
| mutualism | a relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
| parasitism | a relationship in which one organism lives inside or on another organisms and harms |
| ecological succession | a series of somewhat predictable events that occur in a community over time |
| pioneer species | the first species to colonize barren areas |
| primary succession | succession that begins on newly formed rock or other areas that have no remnants of an older community |
| secondary succession | when a disturbance affects an existing community but doesn't completely destroy it |
| biodiversity | the total; of all genetically-based variation in all organisms in the biosphere |
| resilience | describes a natural or human systems ability to recover after a disturbance |
| ecological footprint | the total area of healthy land and water ecosystem needed to provide the resources you use |
| invasive species | any nonnative species whose introduction causes, or is likely to cause, economic harm, environmental harm, or ham to mental health |
| pollution | any harmful material created as a result of a result of human activity and released into the environment |
| renewable resource | focuses on careful use of renewable ecosystem services |
| nonrenewable resource | if natural processes cannot replenish resources within a reasonable time |
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