Ecology Flashcards
Biological community and all the nonliving factors that affect it.
Ecosystem
any living factor in an organisms environment.
Biotic factor
any nonliving factor in an organisms environment.
Abiotic factor
anything that has once had all characteristics of life.
Organism
a group of organism that can be interbreed and can produce fertile offspring.
Species
Group of organisms of the same species that occupy the same place at the same time
Population
group of interacting populations that live in the same place at the same time
Community
physical area where organisms live
Habitat
theory of evolution developed by Darwin based on 4 ideas: excess reproduction, variations, inheritance, and the advantages of specific traits in an environment.
Natural selection
Hereditary changes in groups of living organisms over time.
Evolution
organism that captures energy from sunlight or other substances that produces its own food.
Producers/autotrophs
organism that cannot make its own food, gets energy by eating other organisms
Consumers/heterotrophs
animals that eat primary producers (herbivores)
Primary consumer
animals that eat primary consumers (omnivore)
Secondary Consumer
A carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores
Tertiary consumer
animal that eats plants
Herbivores
animal that eats meat
Carnivores
animals that eat both plants and animals
Omnivores
organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms
Decomposers
simplified model that shows a single path fir energy flow through an ecosystem
food chain
model that shows many interconnected food chains and pathways in which energy & matter flow through an ecosystem.
food web
Graphical model of energy flow in a community
energy pyramid
Process by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment.
Carbon cycle
Nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and living organisms
Nitrogen cycle
When plants and animals die phosphates are built up and returned to the abiotic environment through the action of bacteria.
Phosphorus cycle
observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time
Ecological Succession
1st to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems.
Pioneer species
an ecological community in the final stage of of succession
Climax community
