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Ecology

Terms in this set (44)

Ecology
Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment
Abiotic
Include all the non-living things in an ecosystem (example: light, temperature, and soil composition).
Taxonomy
A scientific discipline concerned with naming and classifying the diverse forms of life.
Species
A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.
Classification
In biology, the ordering of organisms into categories, such as orders, families, and genera, to show evolutionary relationships.
Biotic
Describes living factors in the environment.
Environment
All external conditions and factors, living and nonliving (chemicals and energy), that affect an organism during its lifetime.
Hierarchy
Organizing organisms into different levels e.g. domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.
Community
A group of various species which interact in a common location. eg. a forest of trees and undergrowth plants, inhabited by animals and rooted in soil containing bacteria and fungi, constitutes a community.
Habitat
The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
Tolerance Range
The niche breadth, or the range of conditions that an organism can withstand. More tolerant organisms can withstand a broader variety of conditions.
Physiological Stress
Stress caused when an organism experiences conditions outside its tolerance range
Population
A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time.
Niche
Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions
Optimal Range
The climate conditions where an organism thrives, range of environmental factors to which an organism is best adapted
Abundance
The number of species in a particular area or habitat
Distribution
Where a particular species is found
Amensalism
Where one species inhibits the growth of another species.
e.g. When a eucalyptus drops 'acid' onto another species.
Succession
The process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time
Predation
One organism (the predator) attacks and kills another living organism (prey) to obtain food
Commensalism
One organism benefits and the other one doesn't get affected by it (not harmed or benefited)
Mutualism
A relationship between two species in which both species benefit
Competition
Rivalry between individuals for a specific resource or resources, and can occur between members of the same species (intraspecific) or different ones (interspecific)
Cooperation
Cooperation occurs when two organisms work together, and a positive change for one organism also increases the positive change for the other organism.
Biome
A geographic area with a specific set of distinctive climatic and geographical features.
Producer
Autotrophic organisms that can make their own energy through biochemical processes, which can either be photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophs.
Consumer
Organisms that receive energy by consuming other organisms and are hence, heterotrophic organisms because they can't produce their own energy.
Parasitism
Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.
Number pyramid
The population of each organism in a food chain can be shown in a sort of bar chart called a pyramid of numbers. The more organisms there are, the wider the bar. The producer in the food chain always goes at the bottom of the pyramid of numbers.
Decomposer
Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, carry out the natural process of decomposition.
Energy
"The ability to do work"
Food Chain
A series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.
Biosphere
The regions of the surface and atmosphere of the earth or another planet occupied by living organisms.
Terrestrial
On or relating to the earth e.g. Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land
Energy Pyramid
A graphical model of energy flow in a community.
Pyramid of numbers
A hierarchical structure, showing the number of a particular organism at each trophic level.
Pyramid of biomass
A graphical hierarchy, showing the biomass (physical quantity of organisms, often in kg/m^3) at each trophic level.
Aquatic
Relating to water e.g. aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water
Adaptation
An physical or behavioural change which an organism adopts in order to best survive in its environment. It is an evolutionary process which occurs over a long period of time.
Ethology
Study of animal behaviour
Anthropomorphism
When a scientist appears to be attributing to animal characteristics that are assumed to be exclusive to human beings
Innate
All unlearned behaviours (developmentally fixed)
Behaviour
What an organism does, how it does it. (Serve a function)
Adaptation
Process by which an animal or plant species becomes fitted to its environment. It is the result of natural selections acting upon heritable variation
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