Ecology Flashcards
Ecosystem
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Biotic factor
living component that affects the population of another organism, or the environment.
Abiotic Factor
determine which species of organisms will survive in a given environment
Organism
an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.
Species
a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.
Population
a particular section, group, or type of people or animals living in an area or country.
Community
a group of actually or potentially interacting species living in the same place.
Habitat
environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism.
Natural selection
the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Evolution
the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth
Producers/autographs
an organism that produces complex organic compounds
Consumers/heterotrophs
An organism that cannot manufacture its own food and instead obtains its food and energy by taking in organic substances, usually plant or animal matter. All animals, protozoans, fungi, and most bacteria are heterotrophs. Compare autotroph.
Primary Consumer
an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
Secondary Consumer
eat these plants exclusively and are all herbivores.
Tertiary Consumer
a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.
Herbivores
an animal that feeds on plants.
Carnivores
an animal that feeds on flesh.
Omnivores
an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin.
Decomposers
an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material.
a device or installation that is used to break down a chemical substance.
Food Chain
a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.
Energy Pyramind
graphical model of energy flow in a community.
food web
a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.
Carbon Cycle
the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, chiefly involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Nitrogen Cycle
the series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
Ecological Succession
the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.
Primary Succession
one of 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.
Secondary Succession
a process started by an event
Pioneer species
which are the first to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, beginning a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem.
Climax Community
the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
Ecosystem
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
