Ecology

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

the integrated study of living biotic and non-living abiotic components and their interactions

Question 2

Biotic factor

Answer 2

the living organisms that affect other organisms in an ecosystem

Question 3

Abiotic factor

Answer 3

nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it

Question 4

Organism

Answer 4

individual form of life, such as a bacterium, protist, fungus, plant, or animal, composed of a single cell or a complex of cells in which organelles or organs work together to carry out the various processes of life

Question 5

Species

Answer 5

concept of species in which a species is a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment

Question 6

Population

Answer 6

group of interbreeding individuals of the same species, which is isolated from other groups

Question 7

Community

Answer 7

assemblage or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area and in a particular time

Question 8

Habitat

Answer 8

environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism

Question 9

Natural selection

Answer 9

any characteristic of an individual that allows it to survive to produce more offspring will eventually appear in every individual of the species, simply because those members will have more offspring

Question 10

Evolution

Answer 10

A phylogenetic tree of living things

Question 11

Producers/autotrophs

Answer 11

organisms, like green plants, that produce organic compounds from inorganic compounds. an organism that makes its own food from inorganic substances.

Question 12

Consumers/heterotrophs

Answer 12

organisms that obtain nutrients from other organisms

Question 13

Primary consumer

Answer 13

usually herbivores, feeding on plants and fungus

Question 14

Secondary consumer

Answer 14

feed on both plants and animals

Question 15

Tertiary consumer

Answer 15

top of the food chain, feeds on secondary animals

Question 16

Herbivores

Answer 16

animals eating plants; fungi, bacteria and protists

Question 17

Carnivores

Answer 17

animal or plant that feed on animal tissue

Question 18

Omnivores

Answer 18

eats plants or animals

Question 19

Decomposer

Answer 19

organism, usually a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down the cells of dead plants and animals into simpler substances

Question 20

Food chain

Answer 20

succession of organisms in an ecological community that are linked to each other through the transfer of energy and nutrients

Question 21

Food web

Answer 21

series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions

Question 22

Energy pyramid

Answer 22

graphical representation of the trophic levels

Question 23

Carbon cycle

Answer 23

combined processes, including photosynthesis, decomposition, and respiration, by which carbon as a component of various compounds cycles between its major reservoir

Question 24

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes

Question 25

Ecological succession

Answer 25

process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time

Question 26

primary succession

Answer 26

two types of biological and ecological succession of plant life, occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and other organisms usually lacking soil, such as a lava flow or area left from retreated glacier, is deposited

Question 27

secondary succession

Answer 27

process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species

Question 28

pioneer species

Answer 28

species which are the first to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems

Question 29

climax community

Answer 29

the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference