✔ L.3 Ecosystems

Question 1

non-living; often used to refer to the nonliving components of an ecosystem (such as climate and temperature)

Answer 1

abiotic

Question 2

feed on other organisms (plant or animal) because they cannot make their own food, a heterotroph

Answer 2

Consumer

Question 3

a community of different but interdependent species and their non-living environment.

Answer 3

Ecosystem

Question 4

a hierarchy of food relationships from the simplest to most complex

Answer 4

Food Chain

Question 5

animals

Answer 5

Fauna

Question 6

plants

Answer 6

Flora

Question 7

the immediate space where an animal or plant lives and has food, water and protection

Answer 7

Habitat

Question 8

a living thing that produces its own food within itself, usually by using sunlight energy in photosynthesis; an autotroph

Answer 8

Producer

Question 9

all the living factors (disease, parasitism, predation) that impact an organism

Answer 9

biotic factors

Question 10

a division based on climate, plants and animals; an environment that has a characteristic type of climax community ex. Freshwater biome—all of the lake, pond, stream, & river communities on Earth

Answer 10

Biome

Question 11

is the maximum number of organisms the resources of an ecosystem can support

Answer 11

Carrying Capacity

Note: The carrying capacity of the environment is limited by the available abiotic and biotic resources (limiting factors), as well as the ability of ecosystems to recycle the residue of dead organisms through the activities of bacteria and fungi.

Question 12

a stable community that is in final stage of succession

Answer 12

Climax community

Question 13

a form of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is not harmed

Answer 13

Commensalism

Question 14

the living part of an ecosystem composed of many species

Answer 14

Community

Question 15

the type of interaction among organisms; the struggle to obtain needed resources like food, water, shelter

Answer 15

Competition

Question 16

an organism that breaks down the bodies of dead organisms into simpler substances

Answer 16

decomposer

Question 17

the movement of living things from one place to another

Answer 17

Dispersal

Question 18

in danger of becoming extinct

Answer 18

Endangered

Question 19

all the living and nonliving things with which an organism may interact

Answer 19

Environment

Question 20

an organism that can make its own food by synthesizing organic nutrients from inorganic materials, using energy from sunlight or a chemical source to drive the process

Answer 20

autotroph

Question 21

exist at the same time or in the same place.

Answer 21

coexist

Question 22

the preservation of a physical quantity during transformations or reactions

Answer 22

conservation

Question 23

the state or process of rotting; decay

Answer 23

decomposition

Question 24

a group of food chains within an ecosystem

Answer 24

food web

Question 25

an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients

Answer 25

heterotroph (“different nutrition”)

Question 26

an organism that is infected with or is fed upon by a parasitic or pathogenic organism

Answer 26

host

Question 27

symbiosis that is beneficial to both organisms involved

Answer 27

mutualism

Question 28

the role an organism plays in a community

Answer 28

niche

Question 29

an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host

Answer 29

parasite

Question 30

relationship between two species where one benefits at the expense of the other, sometimes without killing the host organism

Answer 30

parasitism

Question 31

the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar

Answer 31

photosynthesis

Question 32

change in the environment caused by natural or artificial input of harmful contaminants into the environment

Answer 32

pollution

Question 33

the total number of individuals of a given biological species found in one place at one time

Answer 33

population

Question 34

an organism that primarily obtains food by the killing and consuming of other organisms

Answer 34

predators

Question 35

organisms that predators kill for food

Answer 35

prey

Question 36

a group of organisms that can reproduce naturally with one another and create fertile offspring

Answer 36

species

Question 37

the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it

Answer 37

trophic level