Review for Bio: Chapters 34-37
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Created by:
ruserious1253 on January 23, 2010
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43 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Carrying Capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support |
| Mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship |
| Commensalism | the relation between two different kinds of organisms when one receives benefits from the other without damaging it |
| Parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives in or on another organism (the host) and consequently harms it |
| Saphrophytes | (decomposers) that are bacteria or fungi that feed upon dead animals and decoy them |
| Habitat | the type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs |
| Niche | (ecology) the status of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species) |
| Primary Succession | an ecological succession that begins in an area where no biotic community previously existed |
| Secondary Succession | succession on a site where an existing community has been disrupted |
| Climax Community | a stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species over time |
| Pollution | undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities |
| Greenhouse Effect | natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases |
| Global Warming | an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes) |
| Acid Rain | rain containing acids that form in the atmosphere when industrial gas emissions (especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) combine with water |
| Producers | Organisms that produce their own food |
| Consumers | an organism that obtains energy and nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains. |
| Herbivores | an organism that eats only plants. |
| Primary Carnivores | Carnivores that eat herbivores and are therefore on the third trophic level |
| Secondary Consumers | an organism that eats primary consumers |
| Decomposers | fungi and bacteria that break complex organic material into smaller molecules. |
| Scavengers | an organism that feeds on the dead bodies of other organisms. |
| Predator Prey | symbiotic relationship when one individual captures and kills the other |
| Biosphere | the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth (or other planet) where living organisms exist |
| Aquatic | a plant that lives in or on water |
| Terrestrial | operating or living or growing on land |
| Climate | the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time |
| Pyramid of Energy | each step represents a transfer of energy (only 10% of energy is transferred from level to level) |
| Pyramid of Biomass | Shows the total amount of living material available at each trophic level/ The area at the bottom corresponds to the producer level. It represents the greatest amount of living material. |
| Pyramid of Numbers | representation of the number of individual organisms in each trophic level of an ecosystem |
| Abiotic Factor | physical, or nonliving, factor that shapes an ecosystem |
| Biotic Factor | biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem |
| Matter | that which has mass and occupies space |
| Energy | the ability to do work or cause change |
| Popluation | members of one species in an area |
| Heterotrophs | consumers, they rely on other organisms for their energy and food supply |
| Autotrophs | Organisms that are able to make their own food |
| Respiration | the metabolic processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy from organic moelcules |
| Photosynthesis | process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high-energy carbohydrates such as sugars and starches |
| Community | (ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other |
| Food Chain | (ecology) a community of organisms where each member is eaten in turn by another member |
| Food Web | (ecology) a community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains |
| Ecosystem | a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment |
| Biome | a major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate |
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