Ecollogy Flashcards
flashcards
Ecosystem
community of interacting organisms and environment
Biotic factor
a living thing, that influences or affects an ecosystem
Abiotic factor
a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it
Organism
a form of life considered as an entity; an animal, plant, fungus, protistan, or moneran.
Species
animals that can produce offspring together logicaly
Population
the number or body of inhabitants in a place belonging to a specific area
Community
an interacting group of various species in a common location
Habitat
the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
Natural selection
the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Evolution
the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.
Producers / autotrophs
They get energy from chemicals or the sun, and with the help of water, convert that energy into useable energy in the form of sugar, or food.
Consumers / heterotrophs
are organisms that eat organisms from a different population. These organisms are formally referred to as heterotrophs, which include animals, some bacteria and fungi.
Primary consumer
They feed on producers.
Secondary consumer
eat these plants exclusively and are all herbivores.
Tertiary consumer
a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores
Herbivores
an animal that feeds on plants.
Carnivores
an animal that feeds on flesh.
Omnivores
an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin.
Decomposers
organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, they carry out the natural process of decomposition.
Food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms and ending at apex predator species, detritivores, or decomposer species
Food web
In food webs, arrows point from an organism that is eaten to the organism that eats it.
Energy pyramid
An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community.
Carbon cycle
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.
Nitrogen cycle
the series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
Ecological succession
is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.
Primary succession
occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and other organisms usually lacking soil.
Secondary succession
is a process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species
Pioneer species
hardy species which are the first to colonize previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems.
Climax community
is a historic term for a biological community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state.
