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Ecology Wilde
Chapter 3
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ecology Ecology | The scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment, or surroundings. |
| Biosphere | Contains the combined portions of the planet in which all life exists, including land, water, and air, or atmosphere. |
| Species | A group of organisms so similar to one another that they can breed and produce fertile offspring. |
| Populations | Groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area. |
| Communities | Assemblages of different populations that live together in a defined area. |
| Ecosystem | Collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving, or physical, environment. |
| Autotroph | Organisms that get energy from sunlight or chemicals and use that energy to produce food. |
| Heterotrophs | Organisms that rely on other organisms for their energy and food supply. |
| Food Web | Network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relantionships among the various organisms in an ecosystem. |
| Trophic Level | Each step in a food chain or food web. |
| Biomass | The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level. |
| Biogeochemical Cycle | Process in which elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another. |
| Limiting Nutrient | When an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient that is scarce or cycles very slowly. |