Unit 2 List 1 Ecology

Question 1

a non-living part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment

Answer 1

Abiotic Factors

Question 2

an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide

Answer 2

Autotrophs

Question 3

the living components (organisms) that shape up the environment.

Answer 3

Biotic Factors

Question 4

an increase in the concentration of a chemical over time in a biological organism compared to the chemical’s concentration in the environment

Answer 4

Bioaccumulation

Question 5

anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases

Answer 5

Carbon Sink

Question 6

an organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals

Answer 6

Carnivore

Question 7

a relationship between individuals of two species in which one species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting the latter

Answer 7

Commensalism

Question 8

a set of interactions between organisms and species to get a limited resource

Answer 8

Competition

Question 9

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

Answer 9

Consumer

Question 10

organism that breaks down dead organic materia

Answer 10

Decomposer

Question 11

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

Answer 11

Ecosystem

Question 12

a model that shows the flow of

Answer 12

Energy Pyramid

Question 13

a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another

Answer 13

Food Chain

Question 14

a complex network of interconnecting and overlapping food chains showing feeding relationships within a community

Answer 14

Food Web

Question 15

the natural home or environment of a plant, animal, or other organism

Answer 15

Habitat

Question 16

an organism that feeds mostly on plants

Answer 16

Herbivore

Question 17

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

Answer 17

Heterotrophs

Question 18

a natural process where substances are dissolved and removed from a solid by a solution, usually water, which is later extracted or deposited

Answer 18

Leaching

Question 19

Limiting Factor

Answer 19

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

Question 20

a type of relationship between the host and a symbiont, where both organisms benefit and no one is harmed

Answer 20

Mutualism

Question 21

the role an organism plays in a community

Answer 21

Niche

Question 22

a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period of time, caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Answer 22

Ocean Acidification

Question 23

an organism that eats plants and animals

Answer 23

Omnivore

Question 24

a relationship between the two living species in which one organism is benefitted at the expense of the other

Answer 24

Parasitism

Question 25

microscopic marine algae

Answer 25

Phytoplankton

Question 26

species that are the first to colonize newly created environments or recently disturbed environments during the processes of primary succession and secondary succession

Answer 26

Pioneer Species

Question 27

a group of organisms of the same species living in the same geographic area at the same time.

Answer 27

Population

Question 28

a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey

Answer 28

predation

Question 29

organisms that hunt and kill other organisms for food

Answer 29

Predator

Question 30

animals that are killed and eaten by other animals

Answer 30

Prey

Question 31

type of ecological succession (the evolution of a biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals first colonize a barren, lifeless habitat

Answer 31

Primary Succession

Question 32

an organism that creates its own food or energy

Answer 32

Producer

Question 33

the ecological succession that occurs after the initial succession has been disrupted and some plants and animals still exist

Answer 33

Secondary Succession

Question 34

the growth of a population beyond the environment’s or ecosystem’s ability to support that species

Answer 34

Species Overshoot

Question 35

the ability of biological systems to remain healthy, diverse, and productive over time

Answer 35

Sustainability