Ecology Flashcards
What is ecology?
The study of interactions between living organisms and their environment.
True or False: Ecosystems only include living organisms.
False
Fill in the blank: A __________ is a group of organisms of the same species living in the same area.
population
What is a habitat?
The natural environment in which a species or community of species lives.
Define biodiversity.
The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
What is an ecosystem?
A community of living organisms along with their physical environment interacting as a system.
True or False: Producers are organisms that can make their own food.
True
What are consumers?
Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms.
Fill in the blank: Decomposers break down __________ material.
dead
What is a food chain?
A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.
What is a food web?
A complex network of feeding relationships among various organisms in an ecosystem.
True or False: Energy is lost at each trophic level in a food chain.
True
What is a trophic level?
Each step in a food chain or food web.
Fill in the blank: The primary source of energy for most ecosystems is __________.
the sun
What is photosynthesis?
The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods with the help of chlorophyll.
What role do plants play in an ecosystem?
They serve as primary producers.
True or False: All organisms in an ecosystem are interdependent.
True
What is an abiotic factor?
A non-living part of an ecosystem that influences living organisms.
What is a biotic factor?
A living component of an ecosystem that affects other organisms.
Fill in the blank: __________ is the maximum population size that an environment can sustain.
Carrying capacity
What is competition in ecology?
The struggle between organisms for limited resources.
True or False: Symbiosis is a relationship between two different species.
True
What is mutualism?
A type of symbiotic relationship where both species benefit.
What is commensalism?
A symbiotic relationship where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.