Ecology & Environment
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Ecology | the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment |
| Abiotic | All non-living factors in an ecosystem |
| Biotic | any living or previously living component of an environment |
| Environment | all of the surrounding things, conditions, and influences affecting the growth or development of living things. |
| Habitat | The environment where an organism lives and that provides the things the organism needs |
| Population | all the individuals of one species in a given area |
| Community | an group of interacting populations occupying a given area |
| Biosphere | the ecosystem comprising the entire earth and the living organisms that inhabit it. |
| Parasitism | a relation between organisms in which one benefits and the other may be harmed |
| Mutualism | a relationship between two species of organisms in which both benefit from the association |
| Commensalism | a relation between organisms in which one benefits and the other is not affected |
| Symbiosis | the living together of two dissimilar organisms |
| Producer | Organisms that synthesize organic material for nutrition |
| Consumer | Organisms that need to obtain nutrients from the environment |
| Decomposer | Organisms that take nutrients from decaying matter and return it to the ecosystem |
| Niche | the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals |
| Limiting Factor | When resources are limited, and a population is unable to grow, that resource is a |
| Biome | a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities. |
| Carrying Capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support |
| Competition | Results when there aren't enough resources such as food, water, and habitat |
| Predator | any animal that lives by preying on other animals |
| Prey | animal hunted or caught for food |
| Succession | the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established |
| Trophic Level | each step in a food chain or food web |
| Herbivore | Organism that eats primarily plant material |
| Carnivore | Organism that eats primarily meat |
| Food Chain | a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| Food Web | when the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem form a network of complex interactions |
| Energy Pyramid | Shows loss of energy at each level of the food chain |
| Biodiversity | the number of different species living in an ecosystem |
| Habitat Destruction | the loss of natural habitat |
| Toxic Waste | hazardous waste causing danger from chemicals and infectious organisms |
| Erosion | the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc |
| Pollutant | waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil |
| Fossil Fuel | fuel consisting of the remains of organisms preserved in rocks in the earth's crust with high carbon and hydrogen content |
| Global Warming | an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes) |
| Ozone Shield | A layer of the atmosphere in which there is a relatively high concentration of O3 that absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun. |
| Solar Energy | energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy |
| Deforestation | widespread of cutting down trees |
| Renewable Resource | a resource that can be replaced or used over and over again (ex. soil, water, plants, animals) |
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