ecosystem cards

Question 1

what is ecology

Answer 1

Ecology - the study of organisms and their interactions with the environment.

Question 2

what is biosphere

Answer 2

Biosphere - life supporting region of the Earth; all land, water, and air in which organisms live.

Question 3

what are bionic factors

Answer 3

biotic factors - all of the nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Question 4

what is a organisim

Answer 4

Organism - an individual member of a species within a population.

Question 5

what is a population

Answer 5

Population - all of the organisms in an ecosystem that belong to the same species.

Question 6

what is a community

Answer 6

Community - all of the populations in an ecosystem.

Question 7

what is a ecosystem

Answer 7

Ecosystem - all of the organisms living in an area and the nonliving features of their environment.

Question 8

what is a habitat

Answer 8

Habitat - the place in which an organism lives.

Question 9

what is a niche

Answer 9

Niche - how an organism survives, how it obtains food and shelter, how it finds a mate and cares for its offspring, and how it avoids danger.

Question 10

what is carying capacity

Answer 10

carrying capacity - the largest number of individuals of one species that an ecosystem can support over time.

Question 11

what are limiting factors?

Answer 11

imiting factors - anything that restricts the number of individuals in a population.

Question 12

what is a preator

Answer 12

Predator - consumers that capture and eat other consumers.

Question 13

what is prey

Answer 13

Prey - the organism that is captured and consumed by the predator.

Question 14

whats a producer?

Answer 14

Producers/Autotrophs- organisms such as plants and algae, which through the process of photosynthesis create energy-rich food.

Question 15

what are consiumers

Answer 15

Consumers/Heterotrophs- an organism that cannot make its own food and feeds on other organisms.

Question 16

whats a herbavore?

Answer 16

Herbivore- a consumer that only eats plants.

Question 17

what a carnoviore

Answer 17

Carnivore- a consumer that feeds only on other animals

Question 18

whats a omnivore

Answer 18

Omnivore- a consumer that feeds on plants and animals.

Question 19

whats a scavenger

Answer 19

Scavengers- a consumer that eats organisms that have already died.

Question 20

what are decomposers

Answer 20

Decomposers- a consumer that breaks down the complex compounds of dead and decaying plants and animals into simpler molecules that can be more easily absorbed.

Question 21

whats a food chain

Answer 21

Food chain- a diagram that shows the flow of energy and matter between animals in a community.

Question 22

whats afood web

Answer 22

Food web- shows all the possible feeding relationships at each trophic level in a community.

Question 23

whats a trophic level

Answer 23

Trophic level- a feeding step in a food chain, or ecological energy pyramid.

Question 24

ecological energy pyramid

Answer 24

Ecological energy pyramid- shows how energy flows through an ecosystem.

Question 25

what are symbiosis

Answer 25

Symbiosis- a relationship of dependence or mutual benefit between organisms of the same ecosystem.

Question 26

Mutualism-

Answer 26

Mutualism- a relationship where both organisms benefit.

Question 27

Commensalism-

Answer 27

Commensalism- a relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism is not affected.

Question 28

Parasitism-

Answer 28

Parasitism- a relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed.

Question 29

Ecological Succession-

Answer 29

Ecological Succession- Natural, gradual changes in the types of species that live in an area; can be primary or secondary

Question 30

what is a primary succesion

Answer 30

Primary Succession- begins in an area where NO SOIL is present. The development of an ecosystem in an area that has never had a community living within it.

Question 31

what is a secondary succesion

Answer 31

Secondary Succession- the process of restabilization that follows a disturbance in an area where life has formed an ecosystem. SOIL IS ALREADY PRESENT.