Term | Definition |
What is an Ecologist | A scientist who studies nature, habitats, and animal behavior. Ex) Rachel Carson studied how DDT affected nature. |
What is a Food Web | A scientific study of animals that consume, decompose, and produce for survival as equals. Ex) A fox eats a chicken, which eats a mouse, which eats a piece of cheese, which gave the fox disease. |
What is an Introduced Species | An organism that has been moved into a new habitat. Ex) The zebra mussels spread across most of the Eastern U.S. |
What does Endothermic mean | A warm blooded animal that can provide its own heat and energy. Ex) A mammal that has higher metabolism and digests food faster. |
What does Exothermic mean | A cold blooded animal that can't provide its own heat or energy. Ex) A reptile or amphibian does not have lots of metabolism and digests very slowly. |
What does Carrying Capacity mean | The amount of an organism that is in a habitat before it becomes invasive. Ex) A weed might not seem bad or possible of creating damage, but can do a lot when it reproduces. |
What is a Producer | An organism that produces food for other organisms. Ex) A tree would supply sugar for humans. |
What is Photosynthesis | The process in which a plant absorbs energy from the sun to create needed resources that it can't obtain in soil. Fun Fact) It is the #1 most important energy cycle on Earth. |
What is Plankton | A small organism that is made up of algae. It floats near the surface of lakes. Ex) It serves as a food source for small fish. |
What is a Consumer | An organism that eats other organisms to control population. Ex) A wolf would eat a sick or old deer and lower the overpopulation of deer. |
What is the Food Chain | A scientific study of an animal that consumes multiple animals, but has no natural predator. Ex) A Mountain Lion would eat almost all other forest animals but would not get eaten itself. |
What is a Decomposer | An animal or plant that decomposes after dying in order for other organisms to obtain nutrients for their survival. Ex) A deer carcass that was left by a wolf or mountain lion would decompose into the soil and produce nutrients for trees and soil. |