Unit 2- List 1 Ecology

Question 1

Abiotic Factors

Answer 1

the non-living factors in an environment such as temperature, light, water, and nutrients

Question 2

Biotic Factors

Answer 2

living organisms that are part of an environment

Question 2

Autotrophs

Answer 2

an organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals

Question 3

Bioaccumulation

Answer 3

the build-up of something inside an organism

Question 4

Commensalism

Answer 4

a relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed

Question 5

Carbon Sink

Answer 5

anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases

Question 6

Carnivore

Answer 6

an animal that eats other animals

Question 7

Consumer

Answer 7

an organism that cannot produce its own food and must eat other plants and/or animals to get energy

Question 8

Competition

Answer 8

a relationship between organisms that strive for the same resources in the same ecosystem

Question 9

Ecosystem

Answer 9

a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a particular area

Question 10

Decomposer

Answer 10

a living thing that breaks down dead plants, animals or waste

Question 11

Energy Pyramid

Answer 11

a model that shows the flow of energy from one trophic level to the next along a food chain

Question 11

Food Chain

Answer 11

the order in which organisms, or living things, depend on each other for food

Question 12

Food Web

Answer 12

a model of intersecting food chains in an ecosystem

Question 13

Habitat

Answer 13

the home of an animal or a plant

Question 14

Herbivore

Answer 14

an organism that mostly feeds on plants

Question 15

Heterotrophs

Answer 15

organisms that can’t make their own food and so must get energy by eating plants and animals to survive

Question 16

Limiting Factor

Answer 16

anything that constrains a population’s size and slows or stops it from growing

Question 16

Leaching

Answer 16

a process in which water-soluble substances are washed out from the soil

Question 17

Mutualism

Answer 17

a relationship in which both organisms benefit

Question 18

Niche

Answer 18

the role a species plays in the ecosystem

Question 19

Ocean Acidification

Answer 19

a change in the properties of ocean water that can be harmful for plants and animals

Question 20

Omnivore

Answer 20

an organism that regularly consumes a variety of material, including plants, animals, algae, and fungi

Question 21

Parasitism

Answer 21

a relationship between two living things

Question 22

Phytoplankton

Answer 22

Plankton that is made up of plants or plantlike organisms

Question 23

Pioneer Species

Answer 23

any organism which is the first to colonize a barren area

Question 24

Population

Answer 24

a group of people living in a particular area, such as a city, country, continent, or the world

Question 25

Predation

Answer 25

the ecological process in which an animal (or an organism) kills and feeds on another animal (or an organism)

Question 26

Predator

Answer 26

organisms that hunt and kill other organisms for food

Question 27

Prey

Answer 27

an animal hunted or killed by another animal for food

Question 28

Producer

Answer 28

organisms that make their own food

Question 29

Primary Succession

Answer 29

when a new area of land is populated by a group of species for the first time

Question 30

Secondary Succession

Answer 30

happens when a climax community or intermediate community is impacted by a disturbance

Question 31

Species Overshoot

Answer 31

when the population of a species significantly exceeds the carrying capacity of its environment

Question 32

Sustainability

Answer 32

When a natural resource is sustainable, it doesn’t become used up or destroyed, and so living sustainably means we can keep using it for a long time