Term | Definition |
Pest | A pest is an organism that humans xonsider harmful or inconvenient.
Example; weeds, insects, fungi, rodents |
Pesticide | Pesticides are chemicals that are designed to kill pests. |
Water Soluble | Will dissolve and wash away and also can be harmful and affect nevous system of organisms. |
Fat Soluble | Will dissolve in fatty tissue, but stay in the body and will be passed on the food chain. Example; DDT |
Bioaccumulation | An increase in the concentration levels of a pesticide within the body of an organism over time |
Bioamplification/Biomagnification | A species at a higher trophic level feeds on more than one organism below it therefore pesticides concentrations tend to increase rapidly the higher up the food chain you look |
Food Chain | Shows the feeding relationships among species in an ecosystem. Carnivores linked in a food chain have a predator-prey relation ship with the animals they eat - in our case study example the hawk is the predator and the mouse is the prey. |
Food Chain 1st Trophic Level | Is a producer for example; grass, plant, trees, etc. |
Food Chain 2nd Tropic Level | Is the Primary consumer (herbivore) for example; rabbits, grasshoppers, deer, etc. |
Food Chain 3rd Tropic Level | Is the Secondary consumer (carnivore) for example; snakes, perch, shrew, etc. |
Food Chain 4th Tropic Level | Is the Tertiary consumer (carnivore) for example; hawks, owls, foxes, etc. |
Food Webs | A series of interconnecting food chains. |
Sustainability | The ability to maintain an ecological balance. |
Sustainable Ecosystem | An ecosystem that is maintained through natural processes. |
Population | A group of member of the same species that live in the same area. |
Limiting Factor | Any factor that restricts the size of a population or where it can live(can be biotic or abiotic) |
Abiotic Limiting Factors | Determines where a species can live. |
Biotic Limiting Factors | Determines a species success in an area. |
Biotic Limiting Factors Include | Includes how the species in a community in a community interacts with one an other such as competition(two species vie for the same resource),predation(one species feeds on another species),symbiosis(two species live in/on/near each other). |
Abiotic Limiting Factors Include | Includes the amount of light, water, nutrients and space, the temperature, and natural disturbances(logging, mining...). |
Tolerance Range | The abiotic conditions within which a species can survive(varies from species to species). A species with a wide tolerance range tend to be more widely distributed. For example; Raccoons. |
Canada's Biomes | Grassland, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Boreal Forest, Mountain Forest, and Tundra |
Water Cycle | The series of processes that moves water through the environment. For example; water evaporates from the ocean condenses to form clouds, rain back onto the land, and runs back into the oceans. |
Carbon Cycle | The series of processes that move carbon compounds throughout the biosphere. For example; carbon dioxide is turned into sugar in photosynthesis by plants and eaten by animals and turned back into carbon dioxide in cell respiration. |
Invasive Species | Non-native species that causes harm to the ecosystem in which it has been introduced. Often has no predators in new areas so they reproduce faster then native species. |