Unit 7 - Ecology Vocab

Question 1

Ecology

Answer 1

The study of interactions between organisms and their environment

Question 2

Species

Answer 2

A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding

Question 3

Population

Answer 3

A population is the number of organisms of the same species that live in a particular geographic area at the same time

Question 4

Community

Answer 4

A group of different species living in the same area

Question 5

Ecosystem

Answer 5

A geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together

Question 6

Biosphere

Answer 6

All of the parts on Earth were life exists

Question 7

Biotic Factor

Answer 7

Living influences on organisms within an ecosystem

Question 8

Abiotic Factor

Answer 8

Physical, or nonliving, factors that shape ecosystems

Question 9

Carnivore

Answer 9

An organism that only eats meat

Question 10

Herbivore

Answer 10

An organism that only eats plants

Question 11

Omnivore

Answer 11

An organism that eats both plants and meat

Question 12

Scavenger

Answer 12

An organism that eats already dead organisms

Question 13

Decomposer

Answer 13

An organism that eats dead organisms and breaks them down to the inorganic components to return nutrients to the soil

Question 14

Food Chain

Answer 14

A single path of energy transfer that can occur in an ecosystem

Question 15

Food Web

Answer 15

A diagram showing multiple food chains and feeding relationships in an ecosystem

Question 16

Trophic Level

Answer 16

A feeding level on a food chain

Question 17

Predator

Answer 17

Eats another organism

Question 18

Prey

Answer 18

Gets eaten by a predator

Question 19

Producer

Answer 19

An autotroph that makes its own food, in the form of glucose, from the sun

Question 20

Consumer

Answer 20

A heterotroph that must eat other organisms for food

Question 21

Energy

Answer 21

Organisms need this to survive, grow, respond to stimuli, and reproduce

Question 22

Biomass

Answer 22

The amount of living material in a given area or volume of the earth’s surface, either on land or in the water

Question 23

Competition

Answer 23

A relationship between organisms in which one is harmed when both are trying to use the same resource

Question 24

Symbiosis

Answer 24

A relationship between two organisms that live close together in which one or both benefit

Question 25

Mutualism

Answer 25

A relationship where both organisms benefit

Question 26

Parasitism

Answer 26

A relationship where one organism benefits and the other is harmed

Question 27

Commensalism

Answer 27

A relationship where one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

Question 28

Behavior

Answer 28

Response to a stimulus

Question 29

Stimulus/Stimuli

Answer 29

Anything that can trigger a physical or behavioral change

Question 30

Innate

Answer 30

A behavior that is genetically built in to an organism rather than learned

Question 31

Taxis

Answer 31

A reflex movement by a freely moving organism in relation to a stimulus

Question 32

Migration

Answer 32

A patter of behavior in which animals travel from one habitat to another in search of food, better conditions, or reproductive needs

Question 33

Estivation

Answer 33

A behavior of dormancy during the summer in order to survive hot and dry periods

Question 34

Hibernation

Answer 34

A behavior of dormancy during the winter in order to survive cold conditions with a lack of food

Question 35

Imprinting

Answer 35

A form of learning in which a young animal fixes its attention on the first object with which it has visual, auditory, or tactile experience and thereafter follows that object

Question 36

Dormancy

Answer 36

State of reduced metabolic activity adopted by many organisms under conditions of environmental stress

Question 37

Courtship

Answer 37

A set of display behaviors in which an animal attempts to attract a mate and exhibit their desire to copulate

Question 38

Territory

Answer 38

Any area defended by an organism or a group of similar organisms for such purposes as mating, nesting, roosting, or feeding

Question 39

Pheromones

Answer 39

Chemical signals that carry information between individuals within a species

Question 40

Habituation

Answer 40

When animals are exposed to the same stimuli repeatedly, and eventually stop responding to that stimulus

Question 41

Classical Conditioning

Answer 41

A learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first completed due to the second stimulus is eventually completed due to the first stimulus alone

Question 42

Operant conditioning

Answer 42

A learning process by which humans and other animals learn to behave in order to obtain rewards or avoid punishments

Question 43

Insight Learning

Answer 43

A type of learning that uses reason, especially to form conclusions, inferences, or judgments, to solve a problem

Question 44

Matter

Answer 44

Anything that occupies space and has mass

Question 45

Limiting Factor

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Population Density

Answer 46

The concentration of individuals within a species in a specific geographic location

Question 47

Independent

Answer 47

Does not rely on any other factors

Question 48

Dependent

Answer 48

Does rely on other factors, like population density

Question 49

Exponential Growth

Answer 49

When a population’s growth rate stays the same, regardless of population size, making the population grow faster and faster as it gets larger

Question 50

Logistic Growth

Answer 50

When a population’s growth rate decreases as population size approaches a maximum imposed by limited resources; the carrying capacity