flashcards
Ecosystem
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Biotic factor
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
Abiotic factor
non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystem
Organism
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.
Species
is the fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus.
Population
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.
Community
an interacting group of various species in a common location.
Habitat
usually refers to aspects of more or less predictable behaviour, instinctive or otherwise, though it also has broader application.
Natural selection
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.
Evolution
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.
Producers / autotrophs
organism capable of producing complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules through the process of photosynthesis
Consumers / heterotrophs
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.
Primary consumer
the living organism that eats the producers, which are the plants.
Secondary consumer
organisms, primarily animals, which eat primary consumers
Tertiary consumer
an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.
Herbivores
eats only plants
Carnivores
only eats a little meat
Omnivores
eats both plants and animals
Decomposers
are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms
Food chain
is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms
Food web
s a graphical model depicting the many food chains linked together to show the feeding relationships of organisms in an ecosystem
Energy pyramid
is a graphical model of energy flow in a community
Carbon cycle
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
Nitrogen cycle
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
Ecological succession
the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Two different types of succession—primary and secondary—have been distinguished.
Primary succession
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 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 …
Pioneer species
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.
Climax community
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.
