Unit 2 List 1 Ecology MCA Flashcards
Abiotic Factors
Non-living components of an ecosystem.
Autotrophs
Organisms that can produce their own food using energy from the sun/photosynthesis.
Biotic Factors
Living components of an ecosystem.
Bioaccumulation
The gradual accumulation of substances, such as toxins or pollutants, in living organisms.
Carbon Sink
Natural or artificial reservoirs that absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that they can release.
Carnivore
Animals that only eat meat.
Commensalism
A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits, while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Competition
Interaction between organisms where they compete for limited resources.
Consumer
An organism that obtains its energy and nutrients by eating other organisms.
Decomposer
They break down dead organisms and organic matter, returning nutrients to the soil.
Ecosystem
A big interconnected community where living organisms interact with each other and their physical environment.
Energy Pyramid
Shows how energy is transferred through different trophic levels in an ecosystem, represented with a pyramid.
Food Chain
Shows how energy and nutrients are passed from one organism to another, using arrows to show which organism consumes which.
Habitat
the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
Food Web
a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.
Herbivore
Animals that only eat plants.
Heterotrophs
A heterotroph is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter
Leaching
a natural process where substances are dissolved and removed from a solid by a solution, usually water, which is later extracted or deposited.
Limiting Factor
anything that constrains a population’s size and slows or stops it from growing.
Mutualism
a relationship in which both species are mutually benefited.
Niche
the role an organism plays in a community
Ocean Acidification
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
Omnivore
An animal that eats both plants and meat.
Phytoplankton
microscopic marine algae.
Parasitism
a relationship between the two living species in which one organism is benefitted at the expense of the othe
Pioneer Species
species that are the first to colonize newly created environments or recently disturbed environments during the processes of primary succession and secondary succession.
Population
a group of organisms of the same species living in the same geographic area at the same time.
Predation
a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey
Predator
organisms that hunt and kill other organisms for food.
Prey
animals that are killed and eaten by other animals.
Primary Succession
type of ecological succession (the evolution of a biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals first colonize a barren, lifeless habitat.
Producer
an organism that creates its own food or energy.
Secondary Succession
the ecological succession that occurs after the initial succession has been disrupted and some plants and animals still exist.
Species Overshoot
When an environenment has more organisms that it can support.
Sustainability
the ability of biological systems to remain healthy, diverse, and productive over time.
