Ecology Flashcards
Ecology
The scientific study of interactions among organisms and their enviroments, including relationships between living and non living things.
Ex soil,plants
Ecosystem
Interactions among the populations and abiotic factors in a community.
Ex forest
Interact
Two or more organisms acting on each other.
Deforestation
The clearance of a forest.
Ex fracking purposes
Population
Species living in an area
Sidney’s squirrel population
Community
A group of organisms occupying an area
Ex deer and bears
Biodiversity
The variety of organisms in an ecosystem.
Plant population=variety of plants species
Habitat
Where an organism lives
Ex trees
Niche
An organisms role in its enviroment
Ex plants to produce
Host
The organism that is infected with the parasite
Ex deer with ticks.
Scavenger
An animal that feeds on dead carcasses left by the predator. Scavengers rarely kill their prey
Ex vultures
Decomposer
An organism that decomposes a dead body to get energy.
Ex bacteria
Carrying campacity
Largest number of organisms from a species that can survive for long periods of time.
Ex bears
Primary consumer
Organisms that eat autotrophs
Ex rabbit eats grass
Secondary consumer
Eats herbivores eats primary consumers
Ex mole
Tertiary consumers
Eats primary and secondary consumers, carnivores
ex snake
Food chain
Used to show the energy flow through the trophic levels
Ex sun-grass-rabbit-hawk-snake
Food web
Used to show relationships between organisms
Energy pyramid
Used to model energy flow through trophic levels.
Competition
The fight between organisms for something
Ex food, habitat
Symbiosis
The long term interaction between two different species
Ex bear and deer
Predation
The interaction between two organisms in which one is the prey and one is the predator.
Predator
An organism that feeds on other organisms.
Prey
The organism that is attacked and eaten by the predator.
Limiting factor
A factor that limits the growth or population of an organism.
Ex birds can’t live in trees because the trees are cut down.
Producer
The first trophic level in a food chain it gets its energy from the sun.
Ex ferns
Consumer
An organism that feeds on other animals and they are also called heterotrophs. They can not make their own energy.
Ex rabbit.
Herbivore
An organisms that eats autotrophs/plants
Ex deer
Carnivore
Eats only meat
Ex bear
Omnivore
Eats both meat and plants
Ex humans
Mutualism
Both organisms benefit
Ex bees pollinating flowers
Commensalism
One organism benefits an the other is neutral.
Ex barnacles on a mussel shell
Parasitism
One organism lives on or in another organism causing harm to the host
Ex ticks on a deer
Parasite
An organism that gets benefitted by relying on a organism
Ex ticks
Introduced species
An organism that is not native to an area
Ex imported species
Autotroph
Plant species
Ex fern
Heterotroph
Organisms that can’t make their own food
Ex humans
Biotic
A living organism
Ex deer or bears
Abiotic
A non living organism
Ex soil or water
Global warming
The increase in earths temperature due to an increase in greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse effect
The heating of earths surface due to the gases in the atmosphere.
Ecological succession
The replacement of a dominant species by another dominant species.
Ex snakes and mongooses
