| Term | Definition |
|---|
| ecology | study of how organisms interact with biotic and abiotic factors surrounding them |
| niche | organisms role in an ecosystem |
| biotic | living factors |
| abiotic | nonliving factors |
| population | all organisms of same species living in same area at same time |
| community | all populations in same area at same time |
| ecosystem | community or organisms and nonliving things surrounding them |
| biosphere | part of earth that can sustain life. . .includes land, water, and lower atmosphere |
| symbiosis | close interaction between organisms of a different species; includes mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is not harmed or benefited |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is harmed |
| quadrat study | field ecology technique used to measure species diversity or count how many of a particular species are in a given area |
| carrying capacity | maximum number of individuals an ecosystem can sustain |
| carbon cycle | movement of carbon from organic to inorganic forms through the air, living things, soil and water |
| J-shaped curve | exponential growth |
| logistic growth curve | s- shaped curve; shows growth to carrying capacity |
| acid rain | toxic precipitation caused by release of nitrogen and sulfur in the air |
| biological accumulation | build up of toxins in higher trophic levels |
| greenhouse effect | gases such as CO2 accumulate in the atmosphere preventing heat from the sun from radiating out to space causing the earth to become warmer |
| environmental stewardship | citizens doing their part to take care of the earth; example: reduce, reuse, recycle |
| density-dependent limiting factor | limits size of population based on how many organisms are in population; example: habitat space |
| density-independent limiting factor | limits size of population regardless of how many organisms are in population; example: natural disaster |
| herbivore | eats only plants |
| omnivore | eats plants and meat |
| scavenger | feeds on remains of dead animals; does not kill animal and does not return nutrients to soil |
| decomposer | feeds on decaying plants and animals; recycles nutrients to soil |
Combine with other sets
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