Unit 5: Adaptations and Evolution

Question 1

Abiotic

Answer 1

physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.

Question 2

Biotic

Answer 2

relating to or resulting from living things, especially in their ecological relations.

Question 3

Biodiversity

Answer 3

a variety of organisms in an ecosystem or biome

Question 4

Climax community

Answer 4

a dominant community of plants and animals that come to live in an area

Question 5

Ecological succession

Answer 5

the changing sequence of communities that live in an ecosystem during a given time period

Question 6

Limiting factor

Answer 6

a condition or resource that keeps a population at a certain size

Question 7

Microhabitat

Answer 7

a small or specialized habitat within a larger habitat

Question 8

Pioneer species

Answer 8

first organisms to live in an area

Question 9

Primary succession

Answer 9

a process that develops a biotic community in a previously uninhabited and barren habitat with little or no soil

Question 10

Secondary succession

Answer 10

a process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species

Question 11

Sustainability

Answer 11

ability to maintain ecological processes over long periods of time; ability of an ecosystem to maintain its structure and function over time

Question 12

Biome

Answer 12

a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra.