Vocab: Unit 2 Flashcards
Ecology
The study of how living things interact with each other and their environment.
Biosphere
All the area on Earth inhabited by living organisms.
Ecosystem
A community of organisms and their abiotic environment.
Biotic
Living factors
Abiotic
Nonliving factors
Habitat
The place where an organism usually lives.
Niche
All of the physical, chemical, and biological factors necessary for a species to stay alive and healthy and reproduce.
Food chain
Energy transfer through organisms’ feeding patterns.
Producer
Makes its own food
Consumer
Finds its own food
Decomposer
Breaks down organic matter from dead organisms.`
Detrivore
Eats dead organic matter.
Herbivore
Eats plants
Carnivore
Eats animals
Omnivore
Eats both plants and animals
Trophic level
A step in the food chain/pyramid
Food web
A diagram showing the feeding relationships/different food chains of organisms in an ecosystem.
Pyramid of energy
A triangular diagram showing the loss of energy in an ecosystem.
Pyramid of numbers
Diagram displaying the population at each trophic level
Symbiosis
Organisms living together in close association
Mutualism
Symbiosis in which both organisms benefit.
Commensalism
Symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is barely affected.
Parasitism
Symbiosis in which there is a host and a parasite. The parasite benefits, but the host is harmed.
Water cycle
The pathway of water from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface, below ground, and back again.
Evaporation
Water turning from liquid to vapor because of sunlight, then rising up into the atmosphere.
Condensation
Water vapor growing heavy as it cools, forming clouds.
Precipitation
Any form of water (rain, snow, etc.) falling from the atmosphere (from clouds) onto earth.
Transpiration
Plants giving off water vapor from pores in their leaves.
Photosynthesis
Plants using sunlight to make their food.
Sunlight+CO2—>O2+sugar/glucose for plant.
Cellular Respiration
Process cells use to convert sugar into energy.
Plant: plant sugar+O2—>CO2+plant cellular energy
Animal: animal stored sugar+O2—>CO2+animal cellular energy
Carbon/CO2/O2 cycle
Carbon traveling from atmosphere, to organisms/earth, and back to the atmosphere. Plants take in CO2, animals eat plants and give off CO2.
Nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen cycling through environment by passing from air to soil to organisms and back to air, mainly involving nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, and dentrification.
Nitrogen fixation
Step 1. Carried out by legumes. Process converting gaseous nitrogen into ammonia, from which organisms make amino acids and other nitrogen-containing organic molecules.
Dentrification
Bacteria using nitrate for oxygen, releasing nitrogen gas into the atmosphere as waste.
Ecological succession
The predictable process of one community replacing another over a long period of time.
Carrying capacity
The largest number of organisms an environment can support at any given time
Steady state
The amount of births and deaths of a population is equal; population stays the same.
Biodiversity
The number of different species in an area
Population
The total number of individuals occupying an area
Invasive species
A nonnative type of organism that takes over an ecosystem, usually with no natural predators.
Eutrophication
The process by which a body of water becomes enriched in poop/fertilizer/nutrients that stimulates the growth of aquatic plant life (algae) usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen
Ozone (O3)
The layer of the atmosphere that shields earth from most of the sun’s harmful UV rays. The problem: It has a hole.
Acid rain
Any form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, dust, etc.) that contains acid/low pH level.
Sustainability
How long an environment can support its organisms/how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Gases that were once commonly used in various products (such as aerosols) but now are believed to cause damage to the ozone
Thermal pollution
The harmful release of heated liquid into a body of water (nuclear power plant by Columbia River) resulting in depleted D.O.
Exponential growth
Growth in which numbers increase by a certain factor in each successive time period; logarithmic growth.
Logistic growth
Population growth that starts with a minimum number of individuals and reaches the maximum depending on the region’s carrying capacity. S-shaped graph.
Greenhouse effect/Global warming
When earth’s surface and lower atmosphere warm up due to gases in the air absorbing and reradiating infrared radiation.
Biological magnification/biomagnification
Condition of toxic substances being more concentrated in tissues of organisms higher on the food chain than the organisms lower on the food chain.
Temperature inversion
This occurs in the troposphere when a layer of cool air at the surface is overlain by a layer of warmer air. (Under normal conditions air temperature usually decreases with height.) It can trap pollutants like smog close to the surface.
Lag phase
When bacteria adapt themselves to growth conditions. It is the period where the individual bacteria are maturing and not yet able to divide.
Growth/log phase
A time of exponential growth of the bacteria population.
Household hazardous waste
Cleaning agents, car products, paint, gardening products, etc.
Wastewater treatment
How we clean sewage.
Hunger
World hunger/starvation: Try eating lower on the food chain.
