Ecology

Question 1

Community

Answer 1

a group of different species that live together in one area.

Question 2

Ecosystem

Answer 2

includes all of the organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks, and other nonliving things in a given area.
Ecosystems can vary in size.

Question 3

Biome

Answer 3

A major regional or global community of organisms.
-usually characterized by the climate candidations and plant communities that thrive there

Question 4

Organism

Answer 4

An organism is an individual living thing.

Question 5

Population

Answer 5

A group of the same species that lives in one area.

Question 6

Ecology

Answer 6

The study of the interactions among living things, and between living things and their surroundings.

Question 7

Producers

Answer 7

Organisms that get their energy from non,iving resources, meaning they make their own food.
-also known as autotrophs

Question 8

Consumers

Answer 8

Organisms that get their energy by eating other living or once-living resources, such as plants and animals.
-also called heterotrophs

Question 9

Chemosynthesis

Answer 9

The process by which an organism forms carbohydrates using chemicals, rather than light, as an energy source.

Question 10

Food chain

Answer 10

A sequence that links species by their feeding relationships. Rather than describe every potential relationship, this model chain only follows the connection between one producer and a single chain of consumers within an ecosystem.

Question 11

Herbivores

Answer 11

Organisms that only eat plants.

Question 12

Carnivores

Answer 12

Organisms that eat only animals.

Question 13

Omnivores

Answer 13

Organisms that eat both plants and animals.

Question 14

Détritivores

Answer 14

Organism that eat détruis, or dead organic matter.

Question 15

Decomposers

Answer 15

Détritivores that break down organic matter into simpler compounds.
-important to the stability of an ecosystem because they return vital nutrients back into the environment.

Question 16

Specialist

Answer 16

A consumer that primarily eats one specific organism or feeds on a very small number of organisms
-very sensitive to changes in the availability of prey

Question 17

Generalist

Answer 17

Consumers that have a varying diet.

Question 18

Trophic levels

Answer 18

The levels of nourishment in a food chain.

• Primary consumers are herbivores because they are the first consumer above the producer trophic level.
• Secondary consumers are carnivores that eat herbivores.
• Tertiary consumers are carnivores that eat secondary consumers.

Question 19

Food web

Answer 19

A model that shows the complex network of feeding relationships and the flow of energy within and sometimes beyond an ecosystem.

Question 20

Nitrogen fixation

Answer 20

The process when certain types of bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia (NH3)

Question 21

Biomass

Answer 21

Is a measure of the total dry mass of organisms in a given area.

Question 22

Energy pyramid

Answer 22

A diagram that compares energy used by producers, primary consumers, and other trophic levels.
-illustrates how available energy is distributed among trophic levels in an ecosystem

Question 23

Biotic

Answer 23

Factors are living things, such a as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Each organism plays a particular role in enriching the soil

Question 24

Abiotic

Answer 24

Factors are nonliving things such as moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, and soil. The balance of these these factors determines which living things can survive in a particular environment.

Question 25

Biodiversity

Answer 25

The assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem.
-Amount in an area depends on many factors, including moisture and temperature.

Question 26

Keystone species

Answer 26

A species that has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem.

Question 27

Photosynthesis

Answer 27

A two stage process that green plants, Cyanobacteria, and some protists use to produce energy
-o2 is released, carbs used to fuel cellular respiration

Question 28

Primary consumer

Answer 28

An Herbivore

Question 29

Secondary consumer

Answer 29

A Carnivores that eats herbivores.

Question 30

Tertiary consumer

Answer 30

A Carnivore that eats secondary consumers

Question 31

Pyramid of numbers

Question 32

Habitat

Question 33

Ecological equivalents