Key Words Flashcards
Producers
Photosynthetic organisms that manufacture organic substances using light energy, water, CO2, and mineral ions.
Consumers
Organisms that obtain their energy by consuming other organisms, instead of directly using the energy of sunlight.
Primary consumers
Eat producers
Secondary consumers
Eat primary consumers
Tertiary consumers
Apex predators, scavengers, and parasites
Saprobionts
Organisms that break down the complex materials in dead organisms into simple ones. This releases valuable minerals and elements in a form that can be absorbed by plants.
Food chain
A feeding relationship in which the producers are eaten by primary consumers, which in turn are eaten by secondary consumers, and so on… Each stage in the chain is called a trophic level.
Trophic level
Each stage in a food chain
Food webs
In reality most animals don’t rely on a single food source. In a single habitat many food chains will be linked to others in the food web.
Biomass
the total mass of living material in a specific area at a given time
Gross primary productivity
the total quantity of chemical energy that the plants store as biomass in a given area or volume
net primary productivity
the chemical energy store left after respiration
productivity
the amount of light energy converted to chemical energy (organic compounds) by producers in an ecosystem in a given time period
respiration
chemical energy converted from organic compounds for maintenance and growth in producers
genotype
the genetic constitution of an organism
allele
one of a number of alternative forms of a gene
phenotype
the observable or biochemical characteristics of an organism
gene
a section of DNA on a chromosome coding for one or more polypeptides
Homozygotes
organisms with 2 of the same allele for a particular gene
Heterozygotes
organisms with different alleles for a particular gene
monohybrid inheritance
the inheritance of a single gene or the inheritance of a characteristic controlled by a single gene
dihybrid inheritance
the inheritance of 2 different characteristics determined by 2 different genes located on 2 different chromosomes
categoric variation
the different variations are placed in clearly defined groups with no intermediate values. This is affected by a single gene
continuous variation
the range of values in the variation is unlimited. Affected by several genes and/or the environment
ecology
the study of the inter-relationships between organisms and their environment. The environment includes abiotic and biotic factors.
ecosystem
a dynamic system made up of a community and all the non-living factors of the environment
habitat
the place where an organism usually lives, characterised by physical conditions and the other types of organism present
microhabitat
a smaller habitat with its own microclimate that is contained within a larger habitat
community
all the populations of different species living and interacting in one habitat at one time
