Flashcards: Ecology
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Created by:
dltn_petrysz on March 23, 2009
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Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Ecosystems | All the living and non-living things that interect in an area. |
| Biotic Factors | Living things in an ecosystem |
| Abiotic Factors | Non-living factors including temperature, water, sunlight, wind, rocks and soil |
| Levels of ecological organization | Groups of organisms at progressive levels |
| Organisms | Any living thing |
| Species | Taxonomic group whose members can interbreed |
| Population | A group of organisms of the same species populating a given area |
| Communities | Different populations that live together in a defined area |
| Habitats | Places where animals or plants naturally live and grow |
| Invasive Species | Species that enter new ecosystems and multiply, harming native species and their habitats |
| Symbiosis | The relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent |
| Mutualism | A close relationship; both species benefit |
| Commensalism | A close relationship; one species benefits, the other doesn't benefit but isn't harmed |
| Parasitism | A close relationship; one species benefits, the other is harmed |
| Potential Niche | The entire range of resource opportunities an organism is potentially able to occupy within an ecostystem |
| Fundamental Niche | Niche where an organism is actually able to live |
| Photosynthesis | Autotrophs convert light energy into chemical energy |
| Producer | Organism that can make their own food |
| Consumer | Organisms that take in food material and are above producers on the energy pyramid |
| Herbivores | Consumers that eat only plants |
| Carnivores | Consumers that eat only animals |
| Omnivores | A consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| Decomposers | organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment |
| Cellular Respiration | Process that releases energy by breaking down food molecules in the presence of oxygen: |
| Food Chain | A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten User- |
| Food Web | Shows how food chains are related within an ecosystem |
| Trophic Level | Organism in a food chain that represents a feeding step in the passage of energy and materials through an ecosystem |
| Carbon Cycle | The organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again |
| Nitrogen Cycle | The cycle in which nitrogen gas is changed into forms of nitrogen that plants can use |
| Phosphorus Cycle | The process by which phosphorus is recycled in the ecosystem |
| Ecological 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 |
| Primary Succession | The series of changes that occur in an area where no ecosystem previously existed |
| Secondary Succession | The series of changes that occur after a disturbance of an existing ecosystem |
| Pioneer Species | The first species to live in an area of primary succession |
| Climax Community | A stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species over time. |
| Growth Rate | Rate of increase or decrease of a population |
| Generation Time | Average time between one generation of offspring and the next |
| Exponential Growth | Occurs when the individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate |
| Carrying Capacity | Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support |
| Competition | Interaction in which two or more species use the same limited resource |
| Limiting Resource | A short supply of resources restricting the growth of a population |
| Reproductive Potential | Rate at which a specices can increase population |
| Tundra | Cold and largely treeless across northern North America |
| Permafrost | Permanently frozen layer of soil under the surface |
| Tropical Forest | Near the equator |
| Temperate Forest | Distinct seasons and moderate climate |
| Temperate Deciduous Forest | Trees lose their leaves in fall and regrow in spring |
| Taiga | A forested biome dominated by coniferous trees |
| Grasslands | Prairies, steppes, pampas, veldts; near the equator, characterized by treeless areas and tall grasses. |
| Desert | Rainfall less than 9.9 inches per year |
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