Ecology Flashcards
Energy pyramid
Plants are producers. That are at the bottom of the energy pyramid. Herbivores like cows, mice, deer and rabbits are primary consumers. They feed on producers. Carnivores like snakes are carnivores that feed on primary consumers. Tertiary consumers like an owl are at the very top of the pyramid. They feed on carnivores.
Food web
A food web shows all the feeding relationships between plants and animals and how they are interconnected with multiple paths.
Decomposer
an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material.
Food chain
a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.
Conifers
a tree that bears cones and evergreen needlelike or scalelike leaves. Conifers are of major importance as the source of softwood, and also supply resins and turpentine.
Consumer
a person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
Biome
Large areas like the tundra, rain forests, and deserts are different kinds of biomes. Each biome has distinctive plant and animal groups.
Deciduous
(of a tree or shrub) shedding its leaves annually.
Ecology
the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
Cycle
a series of events that are regularly repeated in the same order.
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.
Biotic factors
Biotic factors are the living components of an ecosystem. They are sorted into three groups: producers or autotrophs, consumers or heterotrophs, and decomposers or detritivores.
Water cycle
the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
Abiotic factors
a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it: Abiotic factors can determine which species of organisms will survive in a given environment.
Producer
Producer. Producer: is an organism, either a green plant or bacterium, which is part of the first level of a food chain. Hawaiian Translation: Ho’ohua (to produce) This ‘a’ali’i plant is a producer. It has green leaves enable the plant to take energy from the sun and make its own food.
