Life On Earth 1- Ecosystems Flashcards
Define a species
A group of living organisms that are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring
Define the term biodiversity
The variety of species within an ecosystem
Define a population
All of the one species living in a particular habitat
Define a producer
A producer makes it’s food from the sun (photosynthesis)
Define a consumer
Organisms that do not eat plant matter, they eat other organisms to survive
Define a herbivore, carnivore and an omnivore
- a herbivore only eats plant material
- a carnivore only eats other animals
- an omnivore eats both plant and animal material
Define both a predator and prey
- a predator is an animal which catches and eats other animals
- prey is an organism which is caught and eaten by another organism
State what is meant by a food chain
A diagram which shows a relationship where one organism passes its energy to another in a series
Define what is meant by a food web
Organisms in a food web interact with eachother
Describe what is meant by an ecosystem
An ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a particular habitat and the non-living parts with which the organisms interact
Describe what a niche is
The role that an organism plays within a community
Describe what a niche relates to
This includes the whole way of life and the use that it makes of the resources in ecosystems and interactions with other member of a community
State when competition would occur
When plants and/or animals are in short supply
State the two types of competition
Intraspecific and interspecific
Describe the differences between the two types of competition and state which one is more intense, giving reasons why
Intraspecific is more intense than in interspecific because intraspecific is where animals compete for food where interspecific only compete for a few resources
