Ecology vocab

Question 1

The living things in an ecosystem. Ex( animals, plants, bacteria, fungi).

Answer 1

Biotic factor

Question 2

Nonliving things in an ecosystem that affect living organisms and the functioning of the environment. Ex(wind, rain, temp, altitude, pollution).

Answer 2

Abiotic factor

Question 3

An individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.

Answer 3

Organism

Question 4

A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.

Answer 4

Species

Question 5

Distribution and abundance of animal and plant populations. Ex (deer population).

Answer 5

Population

Question 6

Interacting group of various species in a common location. Ex(forest of trees and undergrowth plants, inhabited by animals and rooted in soil containing bacteria and fungi).

Answer 6

Community

Question 7

The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism

Answer 7

Habitat

Question 8

Organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Answer 8

Natural selection

Question 9

The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

Answer 9

Evolution

Question 10

Organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple substances present in its surroundings, generally using energy from light/photosynthesis or inorganic chemical reactions (chemosynthesis).

Answer 10

Producer/autotrophs

Question 11

Organism that cant manufacture its own food and instead obtains its food and energy by taking in organic substances, usually plant or animal matter. All animals, protozoans, fungi, and most bacteria are heterotrophs.

Answer 11

Consumer/Heterotrophs

Question 12

Organism that feeds on primary producers, usually herbivores that feed on autotrophic plants

Answer 12

Primary consumer

Question 13

Primarily animals which eat primary consumers, secondary consumers can be classified into one of two groups: carnivores, or meat eaters, and omnivores, which are plant and meat eaters.

Answer 13

Secondary consumer

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Tertiary consumer

Question 15

Eats only plants

Answer 15

Herbivore

Question 16

Eats only meat

Answer 16

Carnivore

Question 17

Eats both plants and animals

Answer 17

Omnivore

Question 18

An organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material.

Answer 18

Decomposers

Question 19

Series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

Answer 19

Food chain

Question 20

A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Answer 20

Food web

Question 21

Graphical model of energy flow in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain

Answer 21

Energy pyramid

Question 22

Circulation of carbon atoms in the biosphere as a result of photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide into complex organic compounds by plants, which are consumed by other organisms: the carbon returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide as a result of respiration

Answer 22

Carbon cycle

Question 23

Continuous sequence of events by which atmospheric nitrogen and nitrogenous compounds in the soil are converted.

Answer 23

Nitrogen cycle

Question 24

Process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades

Answer 24

Ecological succession

Question 25

1 of 2 types of biological and ecological succession of plant life, occurring in an environment in which other organisms usually lacking soil, such as a lava flow or area left from retreated glacier, is deposited.

Answer 25

Primary succession

Question 26

process started by an event (forest fire, harvesting, hurricane) that reduces an already established ecosystem (forest or a wheat field) to a smaller population of species.

Answer 26

Secondary succession

Question 27

Hardy species which are first to colonize previously bio-diverse ecosystems.

Answer 27

Pioneer species

Question 28

Historic term for a biological community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state.

Answer 28

Climax community

Question 29

Biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Answer 29

Ecosystem