Unit 2 List 1 Ecology MCA

Question 1

Abiotic Factors

Answer 1

Non-living components of an ecosystem.

Question 2

Autotrophs

Answer 2

Organisms that can produce their own food using energy from the sun/photosynthesis.

Question 3

Biotic Factors

Answer 3

Living components of an ecosystem.

Question 4

Bioaccumulation

Answer 4

The gradual accumulation of substances, such as toxins or pollutants, in living organisms.

Question 5

Carbon Sink

Answer 5

Natural or artificial reservoirs that absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that they can release.

Question 6

Carnivore

Answer 6

Animals that only eat meat.

Question 7

Commensalism

Answer 7

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits, while the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Question 8

Competition

Answer 8

Interaction between organisms where they compete for limited resources.

Question 9

Consumer

Answer 9

An organism that obtains its energy and nutrients by eating other organisms.

Question 10

Decomposer

Answer 10

They break down dead organisms and organic matter, returning nutrients to the soil.

Question 11

Ecosystem

Answer 11

A big interconnected community where living organisms interact with each other and their physical environment.

Question 12

Energy Pyramid

Answer 12

Shows how energy is transferred through different trophic levels in an ecosystem, represented with a pyramid.

Question 13

Food Chain

Answer 13

Shows how energy and nutrients are passed from one organism to another, using arrows to show which organism consumes which.

Question 14

Habitat

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Food Web

Answer 15

a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Question 16

Herbivore

Answer 16

Animals that only eat plants.

Question 17

Heterotrophs

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Leaching

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Limiting Factor

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Mutualism

Answer 20

a relationship in which both species are mutually benefited.

Question 21

Niche

Answer 21

the role an organism plays in a community

Question 22

Ocean Acidification

Answer 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

Question 23

Omnivore

Answer 23

An animal that eats both plants and meat.

Question 24

Phytoplankton

Answer 24

microscopic marine algae.

Question 25

Parasitism

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Pioneer Species

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Population

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Predation

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Predator

Answer 29

organisms that hunt and kill other organisms for food.

Question 30

Prey

Answer 30

animals that are killed and eaten by other animals.

Question 31

Primary Succession

Answer 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.

Question 32

Producer

Answer 32

an organism that creates its own food or energy.

Question 33

Secondary Succession

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Species Overshoot

Answer 34

When an environenment has more organisms that it can support.

Question 35

Sustainability

Answer 35

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