Ecology Vocab

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

Biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Question 2

Biotic factor

Answer 2

Biotic means living, and biotic factors are the other, living parts of the ecosystem with which an organism must interact.

Question 3

Abiotic factor

Answer 3

Abiotic components or abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems.

Question 4

Organism

Answer 4

An individual living thing that can react to stimuli, reproduce, grow, and maintain homeostasis.

Question 5

Species

Answer 5

Set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment.

Question 6

Population

Answer 6

Population ecology or autecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment.

Question 7

Community

Answer 7

Group of actually or potentially interacting species living in the same place.

Question 8

Habitat

Answer 8

Habit is the characteristic form in which a given species of plant grows.

Question 9

Natural Selection

Answer 9

The process in nature by which, according to Darwin’s theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characters.

Question 10

Evolution

Answer 10

Field within both ecology and evolution that examines how interactions between and within species evolve. It explicitly considers the evolutionary effects of competitors, mutualists, predators, prey and pathogens..

Question 11

Producers / Autotrophs

Answer 11

Autotroph, in ecology, an organism that serves as a primary producer in a food chain. Autotrophs obtain energy and nutrients by harnessing sunlight through photosynthesis.

Question 12

Consumers / Heterotrophs

Answer 12

Organisms of an ecological food chain that receive energy by consuming other organisms.

Question 13

Primary consumer

Answer 13

Primary consumers are herbivores, feeding on plants.

Question 14

Secondary consumer

Answer 14

Secondary consumers, on the other hand, are carnivores, and prey on other animals.

Question 15

Tertiary consumer

Answer 15

Carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.

Question 16

Herbivores

Answer 16

Animals that only eat plants.

Question 17

Carnivores

Answer 17

Animals that only eat meat.

Question 18

Omnivores

Answer 18

Animals which eat both plants and meats.

Question 19

Decomposers

Answer 19

Organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, they carry out the natural process of decomposition.

Question 20

Food chain

Answer 20

Sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism.

Question 21

Food web

Answer 21

System of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Question 22

Energy pyramid

Answer 22

Graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem.

Question 23

Carbon cylcle

Answer 23

The combined processes, including photosynthesis, decomposition, and respiration, by which carbon as a component of various compounds cycles between its major reservoirs.

Question 24

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are inter-converted in the environment and in living organisms.

Question 25

Ecological succession

Answer 25

Process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.

Question 26

Primary succession

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Secondary succession

Answer 27

Process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species.

Question 28

Pioneer species

Answer 28

Species which are the first to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems.

Question 29

Climax community

Answer 29

Populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment.

Question 30

Ecosystem

Answer 30

The integrated study of living and non-living components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework.