Biological Interactions Flashcards
Ecology
The study of relationships between organisms and their environments.
Environment
The condition (biotic and abiotic) in which an organism lives.
Biosphere
The part of Earth the supports life.
Habitat
A specific location, with a particular set of abiotic and biotic conditions; where an organism normally lives.
Population
Number of individuals of a species living in a particular place at a particular time.
Community
All species that occupy a particular place at a given time.
Ecosystem
A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Niche
A species’s role and position in its environment; a species’s interactions with the biotic and abiotic factors of its environment.
Abiotic
The non-living physical factors that affect an organism’s ability to survive.
Producer
(Autotrophic) organism forming the base of all food chains; converts simple inorganic chemicals into complex organic molecules (food).
Consumer
Organism that eats other living organisms (or part of an organism) for nutrition.
Heterotroph
An organism that eats other living organisms.
Herbivore
Plant-eating organism.
Carnivore
Meat-eating organism.
Omnivore
An organism that can utilise a range of nutrients; both herbivores and carnivores.
Detritivore
An organism that feeds on detritus.
Decomposer
An organism (eg. bacteria and fungi) that utilises dead organisms or waste matter for its nutrients, releasing simple inorganic molecules.
Optimal Range
The level of an abiotic factor at which an organism will best survive.
Physiological Stress
The inability of an organism to function at maximum efficiency as a result of some factor.
Tolerance Range
The range of a particular abiotic factor within which organisms can survive.
Cryptic Organism
An organism that has the ability to avoid observation or detection by using camouflage, nocturnally, underground habitat, mimicry or any other method of concealment.
Intraspecific
Within a species; between individuals of the same species.
Interspecific
Between different species.
Predator
An organism that captures, kills and feeds on another animal.
Competition
Rivalry between individuals, of the same or different species, for a specific resource.
Symbiosis
A relationship in which two organisms live in close association over a long period of time.
Mutualism
Necessary and positive association between two organisms.