ecosystem The living and non-living parts of the environment in a specific area. (Ecosystems can be really small or really large!)
ecology The study of how living things are related each other and to their natural environment.
Environment Everything that surrounds an organism and influences it. The study of how living things are related each other and to their natural environment.
Biotic Factors The living parts of an ecosystem such as plants and animals.
Abiotic Factors The non-living parts of an ecosystem such as soil, climate and rainfall.
Organism A living thing.
Consumer An organism that feeds on other organisms because it cannot make its own food.
Producer An organism that can make its own food through the process of photosynthesis.
Decomposers A consumer that breaks down the tissues of dead organisms as food.
Herbivore A consumer that only eats plants.
Carnivore A consumer that only eats animals
Omnivore A consumer that eats both plants and animals.
Predator An organism that eats other organisms to live.
Prey The organism that gets eaten.
Decomposistion The breaking down of an organism back into nature.
Germinate The process of a seed beginning to sprout or beginning to grow into a plant.
Habitat The physical place where an organism lives.
Interdependance The relationship between plants and animals in an ecosystem.
Niche The position of an organism in a community of plants and animals.
Photosynthesis The chemical process where plants make their own food.
Terrestrial Land
Adapt To change in order to fit a new situation.
Balance Equilibrium in an ecosystem
Population A group of the same type of organisms living in an area.
Community The interaction of all organisms (more than one population) living in an area.
food chain A picture that shows how each organism gets energy.
food web A system of food chains.
primary consumer Gets energy from plants (herbivores)
secondary consumer Gets every from primary consumers (omnivores and carnivores)
tertiary consumer Gets energy from secondary consumers (carnivores)
aquatic ecosystem Includes freshwater areas, estuaries (mixture of salt and freshwater), and marine areas
marine ecosystem Includes ocean and sea areas; high salt content
freshwater ecosystem Includes streams, rivers, lakes, marshes and swamps; low salt levels
terrestrial ecosystem Land areas
biome Complex ecological community that extends over a large area; consists of many ecosystems
deciduous Trees that lose leaves in the autumn/fall
nutrients Substance required to nourish an organism
Eutrophication Increased nutrients in an ecosystem (ex: too much fertilizer)
pollutant Substance with damaging effects on the environment (ex: acid rain, over-fertilization, road salt)
| 1320317499 | mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the association(win/win) | 0 | |
| 1320317500 | symbiosis | any relationship in which two species live closely and interact | 1 | |
| 1320317501 | commensalism | occurs when one species benefits from the association while the other is neither helped nor harmed(win/whatever) | 2 | |
| 1320317502 | parasitism | occurs when one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it (win/lose) | 3 | |
| 1320317503 | Predator | An organism that eats other organisms to live. | 4 | |
| 1320317504 | Prey | The organism that gets eaten. | 5 | |
| 1320317505 | biome | a terrestrial region with similar vegetative communites | 6 | |
| 1320317506 | ecosystem | The living and non-living parts of the environment in a specific area. (Ecosystems can be really small or really large!) | 7 | |
| 1320317507 | Community | The biotic interaction of all organisms (more than one population) living in an area. | 8 | |
| 1320317508 | Population | A group of the same type of organisms living in an area. | 9 | |
| 1320317509 | Organism | A living thing. | 10 | |
| 1320317510 | Environment | Everything that surrounds an organism and influences it. The study of how living things are related each other and to their natural environment. | 11 | |
| 1320317511 | ecology | The study of how living things are related each other and to their natural environment. | 12 | |
| 1320317512 | Biotic Factors | The living parts of an ecosystem such as plants and animals. | 13 | |
| 1320317513 | nutrient cycles | Carbon, nitrogen, & phosphorus go through these. | 14 | |
| 1320317514 | Abiotic Factors | The non-living parts of an ecosystem such as soil, climate and rainfall. | 15 | |
| 1320317515 | Consumer | An organism that feeds on other organisms because it cannot make its own food. | 16 | |
| 1320317516 | detritivores | Individuals that eat plant and animal remains (dead things) are __, aka scavengers. | 17 | |
| 1320317517 | Producer | An organism that can make its own food through the process of photosynthesis. | 18 | |
| 1320317518 | Decomposers | A consumer that breaks down the tissues of dead organisms as food. | 19 | |
| 1320317519 | Herbivore | A consumer that only eats plants. | 20 | |
| 1320317520 | Carnivore | A consumer that only eats animals | 21 | |
| 1320317521 | Omnivore | A consumer that eats both plants and animals. | 22 | |
| 1320317522 | Decomposition | The breaking down of an organism back into nature. | 23 | |
| 1320317524 | Habitat | The physical place where an organism lives. | 24 | |
| 1320317525 | Interdependance | The relationship between plants and animals in an ecosystem. | 25 | |
| 1320317526 | Niche | The position of an organism in a community of plants and animals. Where it lives, what it eats, and when it is active. | 26 | |
| 1320317527 | Photosynthesis | The chemical process where plants make their own food. | 27 | |
| 1320317528 | Terrestrial | Land | 28 | |
| 1320317529 | Adapt | To change in order to fit a new situation. | 29 | |
| 1320317530 | food chain | A picture that shows how each organism gets energy. | 30 | |
| 1320317531 | food web | A system of food chains. | 31 | |
| 1320317532 | primary consumer | Gets energy from plants (herbivores) | 32 | |
| 1320317533 | secondary consumer | Gets every from primary consumers (omnivores and carnivores) | 33 | |
| 1320317534 | tertiary consumer | Gets energy from secondary consumers (carnivores) | 34 | |
| 1320317535 | aquatic ecosystem | Includes freshwater areas, estuaries (mixture of salt and freshwater), and marine areas | 35 | |
| 1320317536 | marine ecosystem | Includes ocean and sea areas; high salt content | 36 | |
| 1320317537 | freshwater ecosystem | Includes streams, rivers, lakes, marshes and swamps; low salt levels | 37 | |
| 1320317538 | terrestrial ecosystem | Land areas | 38 | |
| 1320317539 | nutrients | Substance required to nourish an organism, i.e. carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus | 39 | |
| 1320317540 | pollutant | Substance with damaging effects on the environment (ex: acid rain, over-fertilization, road salt) | 40 | |
| 1320317541 | 3 Factors Sustain Life on Earth | 1. Gravity 2. Biogeochemical Cycling of Matter 3. Sun | 41 | |
| 1320317542 | Biogeochemical Cycling of Matter | 1. Hydrogen Cycle 2. Nitrogen Cycle 3. Phosphorus cycle 4. The you name it cycle. | 42 | |
| 1320317543 | Autotrophs | Producers. Auto means self, troph means nourishment, food, feeding from | 43 | |
| 1320317544 | Phytoautotrophs | Use photosynthesis (sunlight energy) for production. | 44 | |
| 1320317545 | Chemoautotrophs | Use chemosynthesis(chemical or heat energy) for production. | 45 | |
| 1320317546 | Heterotrophs | Consumers who do not photosynthesis and acquire energy directly from the environment. Must consume other organisms needed to live. | 46 | |
| 1320317547 | What every organism needs | Water, Energy, Nutrients | 47 | |
| 1320342954 | Trophic Levels | Describes and organism position in the food web. | 48 | |
| 1320347617 | What does it mean to be productive? | Quantity biomass generated per unit of time. 1gC/m2/d(uot) | 49 | |
| 1320364876 | Productivity is concerned with? | Biomass or the total mass (quantity) of living organisms in a given system and the time period varies from system to system. | 50 | |
| 1320364877 | In an ecosystem, there are two basic kinds of productivity. | 1. Primary Productions and 2. Secondary productions | 51 | |
| 1320383947 | Primary Productions | The conversion of inorganic material from the environment to the new organic material at the first trophic level, i.e. photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. | 52 | |
| 1320383948 | Secondary Production | The accrual of 10 consumer biomass, i.e. the accrual of new organic material at the second trophic level. | 53 | |
| 1320383949 | Liebig's Law of the Minimum | Whatyever essential resource is in short supply limits productivity. | 54 | |
| 1320383950 | Three most productive ecosystems | Swamps and marshes, Tropical rain forest, Estuaries | 55 | |
| 1320383951 | Three least productive ecosystems | Tundra, Desert Scrub and Desert | 56 | |
| 1320383952 | Eutrophication | is the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system. | 57 | |
| 1320383953 | Senescense | the gradual deterioration of function. | 58 | |
| 1320390542 | What is a species | A group of organisms that are sufficiently genetically similar so as to allow for reproduction | 59 | |
| 1320390543 | 5 Spheres of the Earth | Biosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, Technosphere | 60 | |
| 1320390544 | Taxonomy | A system for classifying life forms. | 61 | |
| 1320390545 | Taxonomic rank of organisms | Domain, Kingdom, Phylyum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species | 62 | |
| 1320400255 | Gause's Law | if two species are both trying to acquire the same resource from the environment, then they cannot coexist indefinitely and one or both must adapt, migrate or go extinct. | 63 | |
| 1320425667 | Resource Partitioning | When species compete for resources within the same habitat, over time they evolve specialized traits allowing them to share the available resources. | 64 | |
| 1320425668 | Temporal Partitioning | Different times of the day | 65 | |
| 1320425669 | Spatial Partitioning | Different places within the habitat | 66 | |
| 1320425670 | Morphological Partitioning | Morphological differentiation happens when two competing species evolve differing morphologies to allow them to use a resource in different ways like water birds and how their bills are all different. | 67 | |
| 1320425671 | Indicator species | organisms sensitive to the environment and changes like the canary in the coal mine. | 68 | |
| 1320425672 | Umbrella Species | A designation used mainly to environmental managers, protecting an umbrella species protects all species in that community. | 69 | |
| 1320425673 | Foundation Species | The dominant primary producers in a food web, always and only autotrophs. | 70 | |
| 1320425674 | Keystone Species | Their presence is of comparatively greater importance than others in the system since their removal can have disastrous ripple effects. | 71 | |
| 1320433558 | Interspecific Competition | Occurs when two or more species interact to gain access to the same limited resources. | 72 | |
| 1320433559 | Endemic Species | Unique to a specific geographic location | 73 | |
| 1320433560 | Native species | Historically present (preColumbian) in an ecosystem | 74 | |
| 1320433561 | NonNative (exotic) species | Introduced to an ecosystem by migration or through human action be it deliberate or accidental. | 75 | |
| 1320433562 | Invasive species | One whose presence has an adverse effect on other species in the ecosystem | 76 | |
| 1320447698 | Lichen | a composite organism of algae and fungi. | 77 | |
| 1320447699 | Epiphytes | Air plants that gather their nutrients from the air. an example of commensalism. | 78 | |
| 1320447700 | Trophic Cascade | an ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling. | 79 |
