flashcards

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Question 2

Biotic factor

Answer 2

A factor created by a living thing or any living component within an environment in which the action of the organism affects the life of another organism, for example a predator consuming its prey

Question 3

Abiotic factor

Answer 3

non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystem

Question 4

Organism

Answer 4

refers to any individual living thing that can react to stimuli, reproduce, grow, and maintain homeostasis. It can be a virus, bacterium, protist, fungus, plant or an animal.

Question 5

Species

Answer 5

is the fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus.

Question 6

Population

Answer 6

is the number of organisms of the same species that live in a particular geographic area at the same time, with the capability of interbreeding.

Question 7

Community

Answer 7

an interacting group of various species in a common location.

Question 8

Habitat

Answer 8

usually refers to aspects of more or less predictable behaviour, instinctive or otherwise, though it also has broader application.

Question 9

Natural selection

Answer 9

according to Darwin’s theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characters in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.

Question 10

Evolution

Answer 10

by means of natural selection is the process by which traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more common in successive generations of a population.

Question 11

Producers / autotrophs

Answer 11

organism capable of producing complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules through the process of photosynthesis

Question 12

Consumers / heterotrophs

Answer 12

An organism that generally obtains food by feeding on other organisms or organic matter due to lack of the ability to manufacture own food from inorganic sources; a heterotroph.

Question 13

Primary consumer

Answer 13

the living organism that eats the producers, which are the plants.

Question 14

Secondary consumer

Answer 14

organisms, primarily animals, which eat primary consumers

Question 15

Tertiary consumer

Answer 15

an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.

Question 16

Herbivores

Answer 16

eats only plants

Question 17

Carnivores

Answer 17

only eats a little meat

Question 18

Omnivores

Answer 18

eats both plants and animals

Question 19

Decomposers

Answer 19

are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms

Question 20

Food chain

Answer 20

is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms

Question 21

Food web

Answer 21

s a graphical model depicting the many food chains linked together to show the feeding relationships of organisms in an ecosystem

Question 22

Energy pyramid

Answer 22

is a graphical model of energy flow in a community

Question 23

Carbon cycle

Answer 23

including photosynthesis, decomposition, and respiration, by which carbon as a component of various compounds cycles between its major reservoirs-the atmosphere, oceans, and living organisms

Question 24

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 24

a continuous series of natural processes by which nitrogen passes successively from air to soil to organisms and back to air or soil involving principally nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, and denitrifi

Question 25

Ecological succession

Answer 25

the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Two different types of succession—primary and secondary—have been distinguished.

Question 26

Primary succession

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Secondary succession

Answer 27

is a process started by an event (e.g. forest fire, harvesting, hurricane, etc.) that reduces an already established ecosystem (e.g. a forest or a wheat field) to a smaller population of species, and as such secondary succession occurs on preexisting …

Question 28

Pioneer species

Answer 28

are hardy species which are the first to colonize previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems. Some lichens grow on rocks without soil, so may be among the first of life forms, and break down the rocks into soil for plants.

Question 29

Climax community

Answer 29

in which populations of plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.