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ecology kelley
flashcards for ecology
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ecology | scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment |
| biosphere | part of earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere |
| species | group of similar organismns that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| population | group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area |
| community | assemblage 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 envirinment |
| autotroph | organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food from inorganic compounds also called a producer |
| heterotroph | organism that obtains energy from the foods it consumes, also called a consumer |
| food web | network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationship amoung various orgs in an ecosystem |
| trophic level | step in a food chain or web |
| biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level |
| biochemical cycle | process in which elements chemical compound and other forms of matter are passed from one org to another and form one |
| limiting nutrient | single nutrient that either is scarce or cycles very slowly limiting the growth of organisms in an ecosystem |
| weather | condition of earths atmosphere at a particular time and place |
| climate | average year after year temperature and precipitation in a particular region. |
| green house effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases. |
| biotic factor | biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem |
| Abiotic factor | physical, or non-living, factor that shapes an ecosystem |
| niche | full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives. also the way in which the organism uses those conditions |
| logistic growth | occurs when a populations growth slows or stops following a period of exponential growth |
| carrying capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a given environment can support. |
| demography | scientific study of human populations |
| demographic transition | change in a population from high birth/death rates to low birth/death rates. |
| green revolution | development of highly productive crop strains and the use of modern agricultural techniques to increase yields of food crops. |
| renewable resource | resource that can regenerate quickly and that is replaceable. |
| pollutant | harmful material that can enter the biosphere through land, air, water. |
| biodiversity | the sum total of the variety of organisms in the biosphere. |
| biological magnification | increasing concentration of a harmful substance in organisms at higher trophic levels in a food chain or web. |
| biome | a group of ecosystems having same climate and similar dominant communities. |
| producers | organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce food from inorganic compounds, also autotrophs. |
| photosynthesis | process by which plants and organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high energy carbohydrates, such as sugars and starches. |
| carnivores | a type of heterotrophs which eats animals |
| decomposers | a heterotroph that breaks down organic matter such as bacteria or fungi |
| ecological pyramid | a diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web. |
| denitrification | the process by which bacteria converts nitrates into nitrogen gas and releases it into the atmosphere |
| habitat | the area where an organism lives |
| predation | an interaction where one organism captures and feeds on another organism |
| plankton | tiny, free floating organisms that live in both fresh water and salt water environments |
| estuaries | wetlands formed where rivers meet the sea |
| monoculture | a practice where large fields are planted with a single variety year after year |
| extinction | when a species disappears from all or part of it's range |
Created by:
kennedykelley
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