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Aquatics Ch. 5

Terms in this set (34)

abiotic
non-living factors that affect an ecosystem
adapted
changed to survive or fit into new conditions
autotroph
An organism that makes its own food
biotic
Describes living factors in the environment.
carnivore
A consumer that eats only animals.
carrying capacity
Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support
community
All the different populations that live together in an area
competition
A common demand by two or more organisms upon a limited supply of a resource; for example, food, water, light, space, mates, nesting sites. It may be intraspecific or interspecific.
consumer
An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
decomposer
An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms
energy pyramid
A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web
erosion
Processes by which rock, sand, and soil are broken down and carried away (i.e. weathering, glaciation)
eutrophication
A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria.
food chain
A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
food web
A community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains
habitat
Place where an organism lives
herbivore
A consumer that eats only plants.
heterotroph
An organism that cannot make its own food.
host
An organism on which a parasite lives.
invasive species
plants and animals that have migrated to places where they are not native
limiting factors
Conditions in the environment that put limits on where an organism can live
natural selection
A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
niche
An organism's particular role in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living.
omnivore
An animal that eats both plants and animals
overpopulation
The number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.
parasite
An organism that feeds on a living host
plankton
Tiny organisms that float in the water
population
A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area
predator
An animal that hunts other animals for food
prey
An organism that is killed and eaten by another organism
producer
An organism that can make its own food.
scavenger
A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms
sedimentation
the action or process of forming or depositing sediment
trophic level
Each step in a food chain or food web
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