biology flashcards #2

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Question 2

Biotic factor

Answer 2

any living component that affects the population of another organism, or the environment.

Question 3

Abiotic factor

Answer 3

non living

Question 4

Organism

Answer 4

individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.

Question 5

Species

Answer 5

similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding

Question 6

Population

Answer 6

inhabitants of a particular town, area, or country.

Question 7

Community

Answer 7

group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common

Question 8

Habitat

Answer 8

natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism

Question 9

Natural selection

Answer 9

organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Question 10

Evolution

Answer 10

different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

Question 11

Producers / autotrophs

Answer 11

organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances using light or chemical energy. Green plants, algae

Question 12

Consumers / heterotrophs

Answer 12

organism that cannot manufacture its own food and instead obtains its food and energy by taking in organic substances, usually plant or animal matter. All animals, protozoans, fungi

Question 13

Primary consumer

Answer 13

is the living organism that eats the producers, which are the plants. This means that all organisms that are classified as herbivores, also called plant-eaters

Question 14

Secondary consumer

Answer 14

eat primary consumers. They are carnivores

Question 15

Tertiary consumer

Answer 15

a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.

Question 16

Herbivores

Answer 16

an animal that feeds on plants

Question 17

Carnivores

Answer 17

meat eater

Question 18

Omnivores

Answer 18

an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin

Question 19

Decomposers

Answer 19

organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material.

Question 20

Food chain

Answer 20

organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

Question 21

Food web

Answer 21

system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Question 22

Energy pyramid

Answer 22

graphical model of energy flow in a community.

Question 23

Carbon cycle

Answer 23

the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Question 24

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition

Question 25

Ecological succession

Answer 25

gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time. Nothing remains the same and habitats are constantly changing

Question 26

Primary succession

Answer 26

one of two types of biological and ecological succession of plant life, occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and other organisms usually lacking soil, such as a lava flow or area left from retreated glacier, is deposited.

Question 27

Secondary succession

Answer 27

series of community changes which take place on a previously colonized, but disturbed or damaged habitat. Examples include areas which have been cleared of existing vegetation

Question 28

Pioneer species

Answer 28

hardy species which are the first to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, beginning a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem.

Question 29

Climax community

Answer 29

populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment