Ecology Study Guide Flashcards
Ecosystem
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Producer
An autotrophic organism that serves as a source of food for other organisms in a food chain.
Consumer
a person or thing that eats or uses something.
Scavenger
an animal that feeds on carrion, dead plant material, or refuse.
Decomposed
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.
Food web
a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.
Energy pyramid
is a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem.
Heterotroph
an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances.
Autotroph
an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.
Trophic level
each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.
Biomass
The total mass of all living material in a specific area, habitat, or region.
Nitrogen fixation
the chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into organic compounds, especially by certain microorganisms as part of the nitrogen cycle.
Abiotic
physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.
Biotic
relating to or resulting from living things, especially in their ecological relations.
Primary succession
is 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
is one of the two types ecological succession of a plants life.
Pioneer species
are hardy species which are the first to colonize previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems.
Weathering
wear away or change the appearance or texture of
Erosion
the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.
Deposition
the action of deposing someone, especially a monarch.
