| Term | Definition |
|---|
| What are the 3 main types of ecosystems? | Terrestrial, Freshwater and Marine |
| What does terrestrial mean? | land |
| What are some examples of freshwater ecosystems? | rivers, ponds, lakes |
| What are some examples of marine ecosystems? | oceans and seas |
| How many biomes are in terrestrial ecosystems? | 7 (with similar climates and organisms) |
| What are the 7 Terrestrial Biomes? | tropical rain forest, savanna, deserts, grasslands, dediduous forests, taiga, and tundra |
| Describe the tundra. | Cold and dark, arctic, permafrost, no trees, many migratory animals, lemmings and ptarmigans are year round residents, 20 cm of rain/year. |
| What is permafrost? | The top layer of soil that thaws and in which plants grow. |
| Describe the tiaga. | Coniferous forest, extends across northern Eurasia and North America, contains conifers (evergreens), has needle like leaves, bear, deer, moose, wolves, mountain lions, and sequoia. |
| List some examples of conifers (evergreens). | spruce, cedar, fir, pine |
| What is sequoia? | redwood (largest conifer) |
| Describe the temperate deciduous forest. | South of taiga in North America, eastern Asia, and Europe, high annual rainfall, moderate temps, well-defined seasons, trees loose leaves in winter, shows stratification, songbirds, deer, rabbits, etc. |
| Define deciduous. | Trees that loose their leaves in the winter. |
| List the 3 stratification layers (plant layers). | Canopy (broad leaf, upper layer), under story (shrubs), forest floor (herbaceous plants) |
| Describe the tropical rain forest. | Near equator, warm climate, a lot of rain, poor soil for agriculture, contains the greatest diversity in plants and animals, insects, monkeys, snakes, tropical birds, and animals and plants are brightly colored. |
| Describe the grasslands. | Mostly grass with few trees due to less rainfall, moderate climates, good for agricultural crops, grazing and burrowing animals. |
| What is another name for the grasslands? | prairies |
| Describe the savanna. | Tropical grasslands, warm climate and rainy season, antelope, zebra, lions, etc. and suffer from floods and drought. |
| Describe the deserts. | Low annual rainfall, strong winds, days are hot and nights are cold, Sahara Desert is without vegetation, cacti, nocturnal animals, lizards, snakes, insects, etc. |
| What are succulent plants? | cacti and other water storing plants |
| Describe aquatic biomes. | May be freshwater or saltwater, wetlands near oceans have brackish water, part of the water cycle, and often polluted by man's activites. |
| What is brackish water? | Mixture of fresh and salt waters |
| What type of lakes have layers (strata)? | deep ones where different plants and animals live |
| What type of animals, in the upper layers of lakes and rivers, need light? | phototropic organisms |
| Where is the intertidal zone in the ocean? | Along the shoreline where there is wave action. There is a lot of light there so there are many producers like starfish and sand dollars. |
| Where are nertic ocean zones located? | In the ocean water above the continental shelf. Coral reef found here and surrounds continents. |
| Where is the oceanic zone located? | Beyond the continental shelf. |
| What is the deepest area of the oceanic zone? | up to 7 miles (the bottom doesn't receive light so animals have adapted to darkness) |
| What is the deepest area of the oceanic zone called? | the abyss |
| What areas of the oceanic zones get light (a lot of seaweed here)? | photic zones |
| What are some microscopic organisms that float called? | plankton |
| Define ecology. | Study of interactions that take place between organisms and their environments. |
| What are living things affected by? | nonliving and living parts of the environment |
| What are abiotic factors? | nonliving parts of the environment (air, temperature, moisture, light, soil) |
| What are biotic factors? | living organisms in the environment (producers, consumer, decomposers) |
| What are producers? | organisms that take in energy from their surroundings to make their own food |
| What are consumers? | organisms that eat (consume) other organisms for energy |
| What are decomposers? | consumers that eat waste products for energy (feces, urine, fallen leaves, dead animals) |
| What are some examples of producers? | plants and some bacteria |
| What are some examples of consumers? | animals |
| What are some examples of decomposers? | fungi and some bacteria |
| Define population. | group of organisms, all of the same species, which interbreed and live in the same area at the same time |
| What do organisms compete with each other for? | food, water, space, mates, etc. |
| What is a biological community? | group of populations that live in the same area at the same time |
| A change in one population can change what? | a change in another population |
| Define ecosystem. | a biological community and the nonliving things in the community's environment |
| Where is a terrestrial ecosystem located? | on land |
| Where is an aquatic ecosystem located? | in water |
| Define biosphere. | portion of the Earth that supports living things (air, land, fresh water, salt water) |
| What is a habitat? | the place where an organism lives out its life |
| What is a niche? | all the strategies and adaptations a species uses in its environment |
| Why does each organism occupy its own niche? | to avoid competition with other type of organisms |
| Two species can share the same habitat but not the same what? | niche (ex. ants and bacteria both live in the dirt but don't compete for the same resources) |
| What is a predator? | consumes that hunt and eat other organisms called prey |
| What is symbiosis? | relationship in which one species lives on, in, or near another species and affects its survival |
| List the 3 types of symbiosis. | mutualism (both species benefit), commensalism (one species benefits and the other is neither harmed or benefited), parasitism (one species benefits and the other one is harmed) |
| What is a parasite? | organism that harms but does not kill another organism (host) |
| Give an example of a parasite. | ticks |
| What are autotrophs? | organisms that make their own food (plants and bacteria) |
| What are heterotrophs? | organisms that cannot make their own food and must eat other organisms (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores) |
| What is a herbivore? | eats plants (cow) |
| What is a carnivore? | eats meat (wolves) |
| What is an omnivore? | eats plants and meats (humans) |
| What is the trophic level? | a feeding level in an ecosystem |
| What is a food chain? | lineup of organisms that shows who eats who |
| What is at the first trophic level? | producers (make their own food) bottom of the food chain |
| What is at the second trophic level? | primary consumers (eats plants) |
| What is at the third trophic level? | secondary consumers (eats meats) |
| What is at the fourth trophic level? | tertiary consumer (eats meats) |
| What is at the last trophic level? | decomposers (eat dead animals) bacteria |
| What happens every time an organism eats? | it obtains energy from its food |
| Is energy lost or gained from trophic level to trophic level? | lost |
| How is energy measured on the energy pyramid? | in kilocalories (kcal) |
| What is an energy pyramid? | picture showing how much energy is transferred to the different trophic levels in a food chain |
| What is a food web? | a network of connected food chains (and is more realistic b/c most organisms feed on more than one species for food) |
| Are there limited resources on earth? | yes (that's why we have to recycle) |
| What is a cycle? | a process that recycles a resource so that you end up with what you started with |
| What is nitrogen fixation? | bacteria in the ground change nitrogen from the atmosphere to different nitrogen compounds |
| What is denitrification? | bacteria change the nitrogen compounds back to N2 and release it to the atmosphere |
| Where does bacteria live? | In plants and they transfer nitrogen to these plants |
| Where does bacteria take in the nitrogen compounds? | when they eat the dead animals and animal waste |
| What is seepage? | water that seeps into the ground and plants use it |
| What is transpiration? | when plants give off water to the atmosphere |
| What is precipitation? | rain and snowfall from the atmosphere to the earth |
| What is runoff? | extra water that runs off the land to lower-lying bodies of water |
| What is evaporation? | water from the bodies of water back into the atmosphere |
| What is photosynthesis? | plants using CO2 to make their own food |
| What is respiration? | when animals and plants use the O2 to make energy |
| What happens during photosynthesis? | plants release O2 back into the atmosphere |
| What happens during respiration? | animals and plants release CO2 back into the atmosphere |
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