Ecology Study Guide

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

The community of organisms that live in a particular area, along with their nonliving environment

Question 2

Producer

Answer 2

An organism that can make its own food

Question 3

Consumer

Answer 3

An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms

Question 4

Scavenger

Answer 4

A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead or decaying organisms

Question 5

Decomposer

Answer 5

An organism that gets energy by breaking down biotic wastes and dead organisms

Question 6

Food Chain

Answer 6

Food chains show one possible path that energy can flow

Question 7

Food Web

Answer 7

Something that show many food chains

Question 8

Energy Pyramid

Answer 8

A pyramid that show how much energy is available at each level

Question 9

Heterotroph

Answer 9

An organism that cannot make its own food and gets food by consuming other living things

Question 10

Autotroph

Answer 10

An organism that is able to capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food

Question 11

Trophic Level

Answer 11

Each individual level of an energy pyramid

Question 12

Biomass

Answer 12

Any material used as a fuel or a source of energy

Question 13

Nitrogen Fixation

Answer 13

The process of changing free nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use

Question 14

Abiotic

Answer 14

Any non living thing in an ecosystem

Question 15

Biotic

Answer 15

Any living thing that lives in an ecosystem

Question 16

Primary Succession

Answer 16

The series of changes that occur in an area where no soil or organisms exist

Question 17

Secondary Succession

Answer 17

The series of changes that occur in an area where the ecosystem has been disturbed, but where soil and organisms still exist

Question 18

Pioneer Species

Answer 18

The first species to populate an area during succession

Question 19

Weathering

Answer 19

The chemical and physical processes that break down rock

Question 20

Erosion

Answer 20

The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered particles of rock

Question 21

Deposition

Answer 21

Process in which sediment is laid down in new locations