Chapter 8 Flashcards
What is ecology?
the study of how organisms interact with their nonliving surroundings
What is an environment?
All factors in an organism’s surroundings that affect its survival
What is interdependance?
All organisms in a food web are interconnected, affecting each other’s survival
What is an ecosystem?
Physical and living things. Where organisms and physical surroundings form an environment different from other environments.
What are the types of factors of an ecosystem?
Abiotic and biotic
What are some abiotic factors of an ecosystem and what do they do?
Water - allows chemical rections to take place
Temperature - Affects the speed of chemical reactions
Fire - Can help some plaants to germinate
Light - Lets photosynthesis take place
O2 levels - Amount of O2 in water can change aquatic animals. Changes per heat and depth
What is endothermic?
Where organisms generate heat internally
What is ectothermic?
Where the organism’s body temp is determined by the outside temperature
What are some biotic factors in an ecosystem?
Community, competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, parasitism
What is the community?
Aall living things in an ecosystem
What is predation?
When one organism eats the other. The attacker is the predator and the victim is the prey
What is competition?
Where organisms compete for teh same resource
What is mutualism?
A symbiotic relationship where two organisms live closely and both benefit
What is parasitism?
Where one organism (the parasite) lives on another (the host).
What is commensalism?
Where one organism benefits and the other is unaffected
What are some factors affecting population in an ecosystem?
Temperature, light and water
What do these factors cause?
A change in rates of birth, death, immigration and emigration
What are producers?
Organisms that make their own food
What are the main producers in an ecosystem?
Plants
What is the formula for photosynthesis?
(Carbon dioxide + water) + sunlight = (glucose + oxygen)
What are consumers?
Organisms that have to get their own food and don’t get it naturally
How much energy is transferred per organism?
10% less per organism
What is a pyramid of biomass?
A pyramid representing the transfer of energy from organism to organism
What is productivity?
How well an area supports life
