Adaptations, Interdependence and Competition Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
All the organisms that live in a habitat and the non-living parts of the habitat
What is competition?
When two organisms are trying to obtain the same factors from the environment
What is interdependence
When one organism relies on another for certain resources / factors
What are adaptations?
features/traits that enable organisms to survive in their habitats, evolved over many generations
What are abiotic factors?
Non-living factors that affect communities
What are biotic factors?
Living factors that affect communities
What are communities?
All the organisms that live in the same enviroment
What are extremophiles
An organism that can live in very extreme environments
What are populations?
A group of organisms of the same species living together in a habitat
What is a quadrat?
A square frame used for sampling organisms in their natural environment - usually between 0.25m2 and 1m2
What is a transect line?
a fixed line along which sampling of populations, such as species abundance, is measured
What is the carbon cycle
the constant recycling of carbon through the processes of life, death and decay
What is the water cycle?
A series of processes that circulate water through the environment
What is the food web?
A community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains
What is the food chain?
The feeding relationships between organisms
What is the producer?
An organism that makes its own food
What is a predator?
An animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals
What are prey?
An organism that is hunted and killed by a predator for food
What are apex predator?
The top consumer in a food chain, has no predators
What are decomposers?
organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment
What is a habitat?
Place where an organism lives and that provides the types of food, shelter, moisture, and temperature needed for survival
What is a primary consumer?
An organism that eats producers, can be an herbivore or omnivore
What is a secondary consumer?
An organism that eats primary consumers, can be an insectivore, omnivore or carnivore
What is photosynthesis
a chemical reaction carried out by green plants in which carbon dioxide and water react to produce glucose and oxygen
carbon dioxide + water (light) glucose + oxygen
CO2 + H2O (light) C6H12O6 + O2
What is glucose?
a simple sugar that is an important source of energy
What is a biome?
A really large ecosystem
What is random sampling?
a sampling method that is unbiased as each area has an equal chance of being chosen, used with quadrats to examine differences between contrasting habitats within a habitat
What is territory?
Areas which contain all the resources and conditions that organisms need to survive
What are nutrients?
Substances that organisms obtain from their surroundings, which are needed for them to grow and be healthy
What is Intra-specific competition?
The competition between organisms within the same species
What is inter-specific comptition
The competition between organisms of different species
What is a niche
A unique/marginal habitat that fewer organism can survive in
What is habitat survival?
The adaptations of an organism to survive in their habitats
What are structural adaptations?
A physical feature of an organism’s body having a specific function that contributes to the survival of the organism
What are physiological adaptations?
Changes in an organism’s metabolic processes
What are behavioural adaptations?
An inherited characteristic behaviour that helps an organism survive in its environment
What does anatomical mean?
Related to the structure of an organism
