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Ch. Ecology
N/A
52
Biology
10th Grade
02/28/2012

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Term
Biosphere
Definition
thin volume of earth and its atmosphere that supports life
Term
population
Definition
all the members of a species that live in one place at the same time
Term
community
Definition
all the interactingorganisms living in an area
Term
ecology
Definition
is the study of interactions between organisms and the living and nonliving components of their environments
Term
ecosystem
Definition
a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.
Term
biome
Definition
a complex biotic community characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under the climatic conditions of the region, especially such a community that has developed to climax.
Term
biotic factor
Definition
a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem: How do humans affect other biotic factors? Weather is not a biotic factor because it is not alive.
Term
abiotic factor
Definition
a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it: Abiotic factors can determine which species of organisms will survive in a given environment.
Term
autotroph
Definition
make their own food, plants,
some protists and bacteria
Term
primary producer
Definition
any green plant or any of various microorganisms that can convert light energy or chemical energy into organic matter.
Term
photosynthesis
Definition
(especially in plants) the synthesis of complex organic materials, especially carbohydrates, from carbon dioxide, water, and inorganic salts, using sunlight as the source of energy and with the aid of chlorophyll and associated pigments.
Term
chemosynthesis
Definition
breakdown molecules to
produce carbohydrates
Term
heterotrophs
Definition
can not make own food, eat other organisms
Term
consumer
Definition
Ecology . an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.
Term
carnivor
Definition
eat other consumers (lion)
Term
herbivore
Definition
eat producers (antelope)
Term
scavenger
Definition
an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter.
Term
omnivore
Definition
eat producers and consumers (grizzly bear)
Term
decomposer
Definition
break down organisms (bacteria, fungi)
Term
detritivore
Definition
consumers that feed on wastes, dead organisms (vulture)
Term
food chain
Definition
single pathway of feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem that results in energy transfer
Term
food web
Definition
interconnected food chains
Term
phytoplankton
Definition
the aggregate of plants and plantlike organisms in plankton.
Term
trophic level
Definition
organism’s position in a sequence of energy transfers
Term
ecological pyramid
Definition
Term
biomass
Definition
the amount of living matter in a given habitat, expressed either as the weight of organisms per unit area or as the volume of organisms per unit volume of habitat.
Term
biogeochemical cycle
Definition
Elements pass from one organism to another and among parts of the biosphere through closed loops
Term
nutrient
Definition
containing or conveying nutriment, as solutions or vessels of the body.
Term
nitrogen fixation
Definition
1. any process of combining atmospheric nitrogen with other elements, either by chemical means or by bacterial action: used chiefly in the preparation of fertilizers, industrial products, etc.
2. this process as performed by certain bacteria found in the nodules of leguminous plants, which make the resulting nitrogenous compounds available to their host plants.
Term
denitrivication
Definition
1. to remove nitrogen or nitrogen compounds from.
2. to reduce (nitrates) to nitrites, ammonia, and free nitrogen, as in soil by microorganisms.
Term
limiting nutrient
Definition
Term
weather
Definition
is the day-to-day condition of Earth’s atmosphere.
Term
climate
Definition
refers to average conditions over long periods and is defined by year-after-year patterns of temperature and precipitation.
Term
microclimate
Definition
the climate of a small area, as of confined spaces such as caves or houses (cryptoclimate), of plant communities, wooded areas, etc. (phytoclimate), or of urban communities, which may be different from that in the general region
Term
greenhouse effect
Definition
These ―greenhouse gases‖ function like glass in a greenhouse, allowing visible light to enter but trapping heat through a phenomenon
Term
tolerence
Definition
Medicine/Medical, Immunology .
a. the power of enduring or resisting the action of a drug, poison, etc.: a tolerance to antibiotics.
b. the lack of or low levels of immune response to transplanted tissue or other foreign substance that is normally immunogenic.
Term
habitat
Definition
the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism: a tropical habitat.
Term
niche
Definition
The specific role or way of life of an organisms in its environment
Term
resource
Definition
a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed.
Term
competitive exclusion
Definition
one species gets eliminated from the community due to resources
Term
principle
Definition
Chemistry . a constituent of a substance, especially one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect.
Term
predation
Definition
a relation between animals in which one organism captures and feeds on others.
Term
herbivory
Definition
An interaction in which one animal (the herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants)
Term
keystone species
Definition
can cause dramatic changes in the structure of a community.
Term
symbiosis
Definition
the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism.
b. (formerly) mutualism
Term
mutualism
Definition
both benefits
Term
parasitism
Definition
Biology . a relation between organisms in which one lives as a parasite on another.
Term
commensalism
Definition
one is harmed/ one benefit
one is helped/ one is neither helped or harmed
Term
ecological succession
Definition
(ecology) 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
Term
primary succession
Definition
Succession that begins in an area with no remnants of an older community
Term
pioneer species
Definition
small, grow quick, reproduce quick, invade disturbed habitats
Term
secondary succession
Definition
Sometimes, existing communities are not completely destroyed by disturbances.
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