Chapter 2 Vocabulary

Question 0

Abiotic

Answer 0

Pertaining to factors or things that are separate and independent from living things; nonliving

Question 1

Biota

Answer 1

The sum total of all living organisms; usually applied to the setting of natural ecosystems

Question 2

Species

Answer 2

All organisms (plant, animal, or microbe) of a single kind; the “single kind” is determined by similarity of appearance or by the fact that members do or can mate and produce fertile offspring; physical, chemical, or behavioral differences block breeding between species

Question 3

Population

Answer 3

A group within a single species whose individuals can and do freely interbreed

Question 4

Ecosystem

Answer 4

A grouping of plants, animals, and other organisms interacting with each other and with their environment in such a way as to perpetuate the grouping more or less indefinitely; have characteristic forms, such as deserts, grasslands, tundra, deciduous forsts, and topical rain forests

Question 5

Ecology

Answer 5

The study of any and all aspects of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment

Question 6

Ecotone

Answer 6

A transitional region between two adjacent ecosystems that contains some of the species and characteristics of each one and also certain species of its own

Question 7

Biomes

Answer 7

A group of ecosystems that are related by having a similar type of vegetation governed by similar climatic conditions; excluding parries, deciduous forests, arctic tundra, deserts, and tropical rain forests

Question 8

Biosphere

Answer 8

The overall ecosystem of Earth; the sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected and interdependent through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle

Question 9

Trophic structure

Answer 9

The major feeding relationships between organisms within ecosystems, organized into trophic levels

Question 10

Photosynthesis

Answer 10

The chemical process carried on by green plants through which light energy is used to produced glucose from carbon dioxide and water; oxygen is released as a byproduct

Question 11

Organic

Answer 11

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Question 12

Inorganic

Answer 12

All things such as air, water, minerals, and metals, that are neither living organisms nor products uniquely produced by living things

Question 13

Autotrophs

Answer 13

Any organism that can synthesize all its organic substances from inorganic nutrients, using light or certain inorganic chemicals as a source of energy; green plants

Question 14

Heterotrophs

Answer 14

Any organism that consumes organic matter as a source of energy

Question 15

Consumers

Answer 15

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Question 16

Detritus feeders

Answer 16

Organisms such as termites, fungi, and bacteria that obtain their nutrients and energy mainly by feeding on dead organic matter

Question 17

Primary consumers

Answer 17

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Question 18

Herbivores

Answer 18

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Question 19

Secondary consumers

Answer 19

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Question 20

Carnivores

Answer 20

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Question 21

Omnivores

Answer 21

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Question 22

Predator

Answer 22

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Question 23

Prey

Answer 23

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Question 24

Parasites

Answer 24

Organisms (plant, animal, or microbial) that attach themselves to another organism, the host, and feed on it over a period of time without killing it immediately, but usually doing harm to it

Question 25

Host

Answer 25

In feeding relationships, particularly parasitism, refers to the organism that is being fed upon

Question 26

Detritus

Answer 26

The dead organic matter, such as fallen leaves, things, and other plant and animal wastes, that exist in any ecosystem

Question 27

Food web

Answer 27

The combination of all the feeding relationships that exist in an ecosystem

Question 28

Mutualism

Answer 28

A close relationship between two organism from which both derive a benefit

Question 29

Symbiosis

Answer 29

The intimate living together or association of two kinds of organisms

Question 30

Habitat

Answer 30

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Question 31

Ecological niche

Answer 31

Like a habitat but more specific, the normal place an animal has (from Susie)

Question 32

Abiotic factors

Answer 32

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Question 33

Limiting factor

Answer 33

Any factor primarily responsible for determining the growth or reproduction of an organism or a population; may be a physical factor such as temperature or light, a chemical factor such as a particular nutrient, or a biological factor such as a competing species

Question 34

Law of limiting factors

Answer 34

Law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor

Question 35

Climate

Answer 35

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Question 36

Permafrost

Answer 36

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Question 37

Neolithic Revolution

Answer 37

The development of agriculture begun by human societies around 12,000 years ago, leading to more permanent settlement and population increases

Question 38

Industrial Revolution

Answer 38

During the 19th century, the development of manufacturing processes using fossil fuels and based on applications of scientific knowledge

Question 39

Decomposers

Answer 39

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Question 40

Producers

Answer 40

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