UNIT 2 LIST 1 ECOLOGY AKT

Question 1

The nonliving part of an ecosystem

Answer 1

abiotic factors

Question 2

an organism that makes its own food through use of abiotic factors

Answer 2

autotroph

Question 3

the living factors in an ecosystem

Answer 3

biotic factors

Question 4

the build-up of something inside an organism

Answer 4

bioaccumulation

Question 5

absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Answer 5

carbon sink

Question 6

an organism that only eats consumers

Answer 6

carnivore

Question 7

a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed (is unaffected)

Answer 7

commensalism

Question 8

a relationship between two organisms that strive for the same limited resources in the same place

Answer 8

competition

Question 9

an organism that consumes other organisms to survive

Answer 9

consumer

Question 10

an organism that feeds on and breaks down dead plant/animal matter and waste, making organic nutrients available to the ecosystem

Answer 10

decomposer

Question 11

all the living and non-living features of an environment

Answer 11

ecosystem

Question 12

a model that shows the flow of energy from one trophic level to the next in an ecosystem

Answer 12

energy pyramid

Question 13

describes how energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem

Answer 13

food chain

Question 14

the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community

Answer 14

food web

Question 15

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

Answer 15

habitat

Question 16

an organism that only consumes autotrophs

Answer 16

herbivore

Question 17

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

Answer 17

heterotroph

Question 18

the loss of water soluble plant nutrients from the soil due to rain and irrigation

Answer 18

leaching

Question 19

factors that limit a population’s size / population growth

Answer 19

limiting factor

Question 20

a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit

Answer 20

mutualism

Question 21

the unique way that the organism survives within its environment, or its “job” within the environment

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

organism that eats both consumers and producers

Answer 23

omnivore

Question 24

a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed

Answer 24

parasitism

Question 25

microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh

Answer 25

phytoplankton

Question 26

a group of species that are the first to colonize a new habitat created by a previous disturbance

Answer 26

pioneer species

Question 27

an interbreeding group of organisms living together at the same place and time

Answer 27

population

Question 28

organisms that hunt and kill for food

Answer 28

predator

Question 29

organisms that are hunted and killed for food

Answer 29

prey

Question 30

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 30

primary succession

Question 31

organisms that make their own food

Answer 31

producer

Question 32

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

Answer 32

secondary succession

Question 33

when the population exceeds the carrying capacity of their environment

Answer 33

species overshoot

Question 34

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

Answer 34

sustainability

Question 35

biological relationship in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey.

Answer 35

predation