Chapter 3.1 Flashcards
What does the term “Environment” refer to?
Everything that affects an organism throughout its life, as well as everything that the organism affects
What does biotic mean?
Living; Refers to the living things in an environment
What does abiotic mean?
Non-living; Refers to non-living things in an environment
What are ecologists?
Scientists who study the interactions of organisms with one another and their environment
What are the 4 rankings that ecologists study?
Individual Organisms
Populations
Communities
Ecosystems
What do ecologists who study individual organisms want to gain?
They want to learn how the abiotic environment in which an individual lives affects it behavior or physical features
What helps to explain the distribution of organisms and why they are only present in one locations?
Geologists study of individual organisms
What is a species?
Organisms that are able to breed with one another and produce fertile offspring
What is a population?
A group of individuals of the same species living in a specific area at the same time
What do population ecologist study?
They describe the changes in size of a population
The rate at which a population changes
And what factors determine the numbers of males and females
What is community?
All of the organisms in all the interacting populations in a given area
What do community ecologists study?
The interactions among members of different population
What interaction may influence the structure of a community?
Competition between individuals of the same species in different populations
As well as the relationship between predator prey relations
And abiotic factors such as sunlight
Why are communities considered dynamic?
Because they continue to change as abiotic conditions in the environment change
What is an ecosystem?
A community of populations together with the abiotic factors that surround and affect it
