Ecology

Question 1

ecosystem

Answer 1

biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment

Question 2

biotic factor

Answer 2

any living component that affects another organism

Question 3

abiotic factor

Answer 3

non-living component that affects organisms

Question 4

organism

Answer 4

an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form

Question 5

species

Answer 5

a group of organisms having many things in common; ranked below a genus

Question 6

population

Answer 6

number of organisms of the same species living in a certain area

Question 7

community

Answer 7

interacting group of various species in a common location

Question 8

habitat

Answer 8

place where an organism or community of organisms lives

Question 9

natural selection

Answer 9

the process where organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce offspring

Question 10

evolution

Answer 10

the process by which living organisms are thought to have developed and changed over time

Question 11

producers / autotrophs

Answer 11

organisms that can organically produce their own nutrients

Question 12

consumers / heterotrophs

Answer 12

organisms that can’t produce their own nutrients and instead get them from eating food

Question 13

primary consumer

Answer 13

consumers that usually eat producers (plants)

Question 14

secondary consumer

Answer 14

consumes animals that only eats plants

Question 15

tertiary consumer

Answer 15

carnivore at topmost level of a food chain

Question 16

herbivores

Answer 16

organisms that eat plants

Question 17

carnivores

Answer 17

organisms that eat animals

Question 18

omnivores

Answer 18

organisms that eat both plants and animals

Question 19

decomposers

Answer 19

organisms that feed on dead plant and animal matters as they decay

Question 20

food chain

Answer 20

linear network of links in a food web

Question 21

food web

Answer 21

shows feeding relationships of organisms in an ecosystem

Question 22

energy pyramid

Answer 22

graphical model of energy flow in a community

Question 23

carbon cycle

Answer 23

the cycle of carbon in the earth’s ecosystems

Question 24

nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

nitrogen passing from air to soil to organisms and back again

Question 25

ecological succession

Answer 25

process by which the structure of a biological community changes over time

Question 26

primary succession

Answer 26

succession that occurs in mostly lifeless areas

Question 27

secondary succession

Answer 27

succession that occurs after primary succession

Question 28

pioneer species

Answer 28

organisms like lichens that help in development of soil

Question 29

climax community

Answer 29

biological community that has reached a steady state after developing over time