Unit 2 vocab Flashcards
Abiotic
Nonliving. (air, water, and soil)
Adaption
Any genetically controlled structural, physiological, or behavioral characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce under a given set of environmental conditions.
Assimilation
The absorption and digestion of food or nutrients by the body or any biological system.
Biodiversity
The variety of species, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems they live in.
Biomass
The dry weight of all organic matter contained in the organism and provides a measure of how much energy is available to the next trophic level.
Biotic
Living.
Chemosynthesis
Process in which certain organisms (mostly specialized bacteria) extract inorganic compounds from their environment and convert them into organic nutrient compounds without the presence of sunlight.
Commensalism
Interaction between organisms of different species in which one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Community
Populations of all species living and interacting in an area at a particular time.
Consumers
Organisms that cannot produce their own energy and obtain energy needed by feeding on organisms or their remains.
Decomposers
Breaks down organic compounds.
Detritivore
Consumer organism that feeds on detritus, parts of dead organisms, and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms.
Exponential growth
Growth at which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases at a constant rate per unit of time.
Generalist species
Have broad niches since they have a variety of food sources and demonstrate a wide range of tolerance for environmental conditions.
Geographic isolation
Separation of populations of species into different areas for long periods of time.
Greenhouse effect
Natural effect that releases heat in the atmosphere near the earth’s surface.
Indicator species
Species that can provide an early warning that damage to a community or an ecosystem is occurring.
Invasive species
Non-native species introduced intentionally or accidentally to an environment.
K-selected species
Organisms that are limited by resources and competition.
Keystone species
Species that play roles affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem.
Mutualism
Two organisms interact in a manner that is beneficial to both in the same way.
Natural selection
Process by which a particular beneficial gene (or set of genes) is reproduced in succeeding generations more than other genes.
Population
Group of individual organisms of the same species living in a particular area.
Primary productivity
The rate at which primary producers convert solar energy into chemical energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis.
Primary succession
The establishment of a biotic community from a previous lifeless terrain.
Producers
Self-feeders that acquire nutrients by converting compounds or energy from their environment.
R-selected species
Organisms that are capable of rapid exponential growth.
Scavengers
Organisms that feed on dead organisms that were killed by other organisms or died naturally.
Secondary succession
Where a disturbance in the ecosystem has damaged or removed part of the established community but leaves in place soil or sediments.
Specialist species
Have narrow niches and typically feed on only one food source and most likely tolerate only a narrow range of environmental conditions.
Transpiration
Process by which water that is absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, evaporates into the atmosphere from the plant surface.
Trophic level
Hierarchy of feeding orders based on the organism’s method for acquiring energy and nutrients from the ecosystem.
