Chapter 3-Basic Needs of Living Things Flashcards
A group of individuals that share certain characteristics distinct from other such groups (robins versus redwing blackbirds, for example). Classified into closely related groups called genera, and they in turn are grouped into families
Species
The study of all processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between living things and their environment
Ecology
A certain number of individuals living that make up the interbreeding, reproducing group
Population
The grouping of populations we observe when studying a forest, grassland, or pond
Biota or Biotic Community
The particular kind of biotic community found in a given area (non living, chemical, and physical factors)
Abiotic
An interactive complex of communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within a particular area
Ecosystem
Transitional regions between ecosystems
Ecotones
Clusters of interacting ecosystems like forests, open meadows, and rivers together constitute
Landscapes
A digital technology enabling the location and imaging of landscapes by use of satellite signals. It employs hardware, software, and data to display many forms of geographic information
Geographic Information Systems
A system of imaging the Earth from satellites, or of accessing data from devices that are distant from the scientist
Remote sensing
Large area of Earth’s surface that shares climate and has similar vegetation
Biome
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
Biosphere
Any factors that vary in space and time, but that are not used up or made unavailable to other species
Conditions
Biotic and abiotic factors that are consumed by organisms
Resources
The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. For example, the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth
Optimum
The entire span that allows any growth at all
Range of tolerance
The points at the high and low ends of the range of tolerance
Limits of tolerance
Between the optimal range and the high or low limit of tolerance
Zones of stress
A factor that limits growth
Limiting factor
The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor. Also known as Liebig’s law of minimums
Law of Limiting factors
Two or more factors interacting in a way that causes an effect much greater than one would anticipate from each of the two acting separately
Synergistic effects or synergisms
The kind of place—defined by the plant community and the physical environment—where a species is biologically adapted to live
Habitat
The sum of all of the conditions and resources under which a species can live: what and where it lives, what it feeds on, where it finds shelter and nests, and and how it responds to abiotic factors
Niche
Anything that occupies space and has mass
Matter
Very small pieces–that are combined to form molecules, which in turn can be combined into more complex structures. The basic building blocks of all matter
Atoms
A substance that is made up of one and only one distinct kind of atom
Element
The law stating that, in chemical reactions, atoms are neither created nor changed nor destroyed; they are only rearranged
Law of Conservation of Matter
Two or more atoms (either the same kind or different kinds) bonded in a specific way
Molecule
Any substance (gas, liquid, or solid) that is made up of two or more different kinds of atoms bonded together
Compound
The thin layer of gases (including water vapor) separating Earth from outer space
Atmosphere
Water in all of its liquid and solid compartments: oceans, rivers, ice, and groundwater
Hydrosphere
Earth’s crust, made up of rocks and minerals
Lithosphere
A solid form of matter made up of regularly repeating units of atoms, ionic compounds, or molecules
Crystal
A naturally occurring solid, made by geologic processes; it is a hard, crystalline structure of a given chemical composition
Mineral
A mixture of molecules (or ions) of one material in another
Solution
The chemical compounds making up the tissues of living organisms
Organic
Molecules or compounds with neither carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds
Inorganic
The organic compounds that make up living organisms, to be distinguished from synthetic organic compounds, like plastics
Natural Organic Compounds
Any of a large group of organic compounds that may be synthesized in chemical laboratories and are known by the difficulty with which they degrade in the environment
Synthetic Organic Compounds
The ability to move matter. The capacity to do work
Energy
Energy in action or motion (light, heat, physical motion, and electric current)
Kinetic Energy
Energy in storage
Potential Energy
Potential energy contained in chemicals and fuels
Chemical Energy
One of the most common energy units. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram (1 millimeter) of water one degree Celsius
Calorie
The empirical observation, confirmed innumerable times, that energy is never created or destroyed but may be converted from one form to another (e.g., electricity to light) [you can’t get something from nothing]
Law of Conservation of Energy or First Law of Thermodynamics
In an energy conversion, some of the usable energy is always lost [you can’t get something from nothing and you can’t even break even]
Second Law of Thermodynamics
A measure of the degree of disorder in a system (increasing entropy means increasing disorder)
Entropy
A loss of electrons, usually accomplished by the addition of oxygen
Oxidation
(Primarily green plants) Use light energy to construct their organic constituents from inorganic compounds
Producers
In an ecosystem, those organisms that derive their energy from feeding on other organisms or their products
Consumers
The chemical process carried on by green plants through which light energy is used to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is released as a by-product
Photosynthesis
A protein that promotes the synthesis or breaking of chemical bonds
Enzyme
Process in which organic molecules may be broken down. Release the energy required for the work done by that cell. Involves the breakdown of glucose
Cell respiration
Organisms (fungi, soil insects, bacteria) that feed on dead or decaying organic matter, important in completing the breakdown of organic matter to inorganic constituents
Detritivores
The repeated pathway of particular nutrients or elements from the environment through one or more organisms and back to the environment. The cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, and so on
Biogeochemical cycle
The dead organic matter, such as fallen leaves, twigs, and other plant and animal wastes, that exists in any ecosystem
Detritus
Phosphate bonded to an organic molecule
Organic phosphate
The main reservoir of nitrogen as nitrogen gas in the atmosphere
Nonreactive nitrogen
All forms of nitrogen in ecosystems that are usable by organisms, as opposed to the nonreactive nitrogen in the form of nitrogen gas
Reactive nitrogen
A number of bacteria and cyanobacteria (nitrogen fixers in aquatic ecosystems) that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a reactive form of nitrogen
Nitrogen fixation
A microbial process that occurs in soils and sediment depleted of oxygen which converts nitrates to nitrogen gas and released back into the atmosphere
Denitrification
The detrimental complex of ecological effects brought on by reactive nitrogen (Nr) that has been added to natural systems by the burning of fossil fuels and the fertilization of agricultural crops
Nitrogen cascade
A situation in a human-impacted ecosystem where a small action or reaction is the catalyst for a major change in the state of the system
Tipping point
Safe limits on a variety of conditions on Earth that, if crossed, could become tipping points and lead to very undesirable changes that would be difficult to reverse
Planetary boundaries
