Ecology Flashcards
Ecology
Is the study of plants, animals and their environment, and the relationship between them
Environment
Everything that surrounds an animal or plant (for example air, water, rocks and soil)
Habitat
Is the place where a plant or animal lives
Woodland habitat
Each habitat has its own community for example hedgehogs, foxes and primroses belong to the woodland habitat
Seaside habitat
Crabs, seaweed, shrimps and starfish can be found in this habitat
Interdependence
Interdependence is how organisms depend on each other for their survival, for example buttercups depend on bees, bees need buttercups
Ecosystem
All the plants and animals in an area interacting with each other and their environment. E.g. desert, tropical, rainforest, grasslands and seashore
Producer
Plants that makes their own food e.g. grass, dandelions, nettle
Consumer
Animals that get their own food by eating plants or other animals e.g.
Herbivore
An animal that eats plants only e.g. rabbit, sheep, slug, snail
Carnivore
An Animal that only eats other animals e.g. fox, hawk, ladybird
Omnivore
An animal that eats both plants and other animals e.g. badger, thrush, blackbird, humans
Decomposer
Organisms that feed on dead plants and animals e.g. earthworms, bacteria, fungi (Decomposers are very important as they break down dead things and release lots of minerals into the soil)
Food chain
A food chain shows how one organism eats another and so on
Food chains must start with green plants
Food chains must start with green plants because they are the only things that can make food
Feeding level
The position of An organism in the food chain is called a feeding level
The first feeding level
The first feeding level is always a green plant
Sun
The energy in any food chain comes from the Sun
Plants
Plants have the most energy as they make it from the sun
Herbivores
Herbivores get some energy when they eat plants
Carnivores
Carnivores get some of this energy when they eat herbivores
______ get some energy when they eat plants
Herbivores
_________ get some of this energy when they eat herbivores
Carnivores
A _________ is two or more interconnected food chains
food web
_________ occurs when two or more organisms seek a resource that is limited
Competition
Plants compete for ______
light, water, minerals and space
Animals compete for ____________
food, shelter, territory and mates
__________ are features that give an organism a better chance of surviving in their habitat
Adaptations
