Term | Definition |
Ecology | Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their enviroment |
Biosphere | Part of Earth in which life exists including land, water and air or atmosphere. |
Species | A group of similar organisms 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 environment. |
Biome | A group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities. |
Autotroph | Organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food fro inorganic compounds; also called a producer. |
Chemosynthesis | Process by which some organisms, such as certain bacteria, use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates. |
Consumer | Organism that relies on other organisms for its energy and food supply also called a hetrotroph |
Carnivore | Organism that obtains energy by eating animals |
Detritivore | Organism that feeds on plant and animals remains and other dead matter. |
Food Chain * Food web | Series of steps in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten. |
Trophic Level | Step in a food chain or food web |
Biomass | 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. |
Evaperation | Process by which water changes from a liquid into an atmospheric gas |
Transpiration | Loss of water from a plant through its leaves. |
Nutrient | Chemical substance that an organism requires to live. |
Nitrogen Fixation | Process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia |
Denitrification | Conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas. |
Primary Productivity | Rate at which organic matter is created by producers in an ecosystem. |
Limiting Nutrient | Single nutrient that either is scarce or cycles very slowly, limiting the growth or organisms in an ecosystem. |
Algal Bloom | An immediate increase in the amount of algae and other producers that results from a large input of a limiting nutrient. |
Producer | Organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce food from inorganic compounds; also called an autotroph |
Heterotroph | Organism that obtains energy from the foods it consumes; also called a consumer. |
Herbivore | Organism that obtains energy by eating only plants. |
Omnivore | Organism that obtains energy by eating both plants and animals |
Decomposer | Organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
Ecology Pyrimid | Diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in food chain or food web. |