notes 2

Question 1

a system, or a group of interconnected elements, formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment

Answer 1

Ecosystem

Question 2

a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem

Answer 2

Biotic factor

Question 3

a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it

Answer 3

Abiotic factor

Question 4

a form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes

Answer 4

Organism

Question 5

the major subdivision of a genus or subgenus, regarded as the basic category of biological classification, composed of related individuals that resemble one another, are able to breed among themselves, but are not able to breed with members of another species

Answer 5

Species

Question 6

the assemblage of a specific type of organism living in a given area

Answer 6

Population

Question 7

an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area

Answer 7

Community

Question 8

the natural environment of an organism

Answer 8

Habitat

Question 9

the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations

Answer 9

Natural selection

Question 10

any process of formation or growth

Answer 10

Evolution

Question 11

an organism, as a plant, that is able to produce its own food from inorganic substances

Answer 11

Producers / autotrophs

Question 12

an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals

Answer 12

Consumers

Question 13

(in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore

Answer 13

Primary consumer

Question 14

a carnivore that feeds only upon herbivores

Answer 14

Secondary consumer

Question 15

a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores

Answer 15

Tertiary consumer

Question 16

a herbivorous animal

Answer 16

Herbivores

Question 17

animal that eats plants and animal

Answer 17

Omnivores

Question 18

organism that decomposes dead things

Answer 18

Decomposers

Question 19

a series of organisms interrelated in their feeding habits, the smallest being fed upon by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one

Answer 19

Food chain

Question 20

a series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions; the entirety of interrelated food chains in an ecological community

Answer 20

Food web

Question 21

a depiction of the amount of energy in each trophic level of an ecosystem

Answer 21

Energy pyramid

Question 22

the circulation of carbon atoms in the biosphere as a result of photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide into complex organic compounds by plants, which are consumed by other organisms: the carbon returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide as a result of respiration, decay by fungi, bacteria, etc., and combustion of fossil fuels

Answer 22

Carbon cycle

Question 23

the continuous sequence of events by which atmospheric nitrogen and nitrogenous compounds in the soil are converted, as by nitrification and nitrogen fixation, into substances that can be utilized by green plants, the substances returning to the air and soil as a result of the decay of the plants and denitrification

Answer 23

Nitrogen cycle

Question 24

is the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time

Answer 24

Ecological succession

Question 25

s 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

Answer 25

Primary succession

Question 26

is the series of community changes which take place on a previously colonized, but disturbed or damaged habitat

Answer 26

Secondary succession

Question 27

are hardy species which are the first to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, beginning a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem

Answer 27

Pioneer species

Question 28

is a historic term that expressed a biological community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession the development of vegetation in an area over time, had reached a steady state

Answer 28

Climax community

Question 29

animals that eat other animals

Answer 29

Carnivores