Biodiversity (Unit 3 Topic 1)

Question 1

Define Abiotic

Answer 1

non-living, void of life,

Question 2

Define Abundance

Answer 2

the relative representation of species living in the same ecosystem.

Question 3

Define Adaptation

Answer 3

the biological mechanism that allows species to adjust or change to better suit their environment

Question 4

Define Aquatic

Answer 4

associated with water, an aquatic animal would predominantly in bodies of water.

Question 5

Define Biodiversity

Answer 5

is the biological variety and variability of life on Earth and is a measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem level.

Question 6

Define Biomass

Answer 6

is the mass or weight of living tissue, minus the water mass and anything else that isn’t the genuine weight.

Question 7

Define Biome

Answer 7

A biome is a large community of vegetation and wildlife adapted to a specific climate. The five major types of biomes are aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra

Question 8

Define Biotic

Answer 8

a living organism that shapes its environment

Question 9

Define Climate

Answer 9

the long term patterns of temperature, humidity, wind, etc. in an area. Climate can be influenced by latitude, altitude, terrain and nearby bodies of water.

Question 10

Define Community

Answer 10

an interacting group of various species in a common location. For example, a forest of trees and undergrowth plants, inhabited by animals and rooted in soil containing bacteria and fungi, constitutes a biological community.

Question 11

Define Sclerophyll

Answer 11

a type of vegetation that has hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek sklēros (hard) and phyllon (leaf).

Question 12

Define Distribution

Answer 12

The spread of a species in a particular habitat

Question 13

Define Diversity index

Answer 13

is a quantitative measure that reflects how many different types (such as species) there are in a dataset (a community), which can then associate to specie relations, such as richness, divergence or evenness.

Question 14

Define Ecosystem

Answer 14

consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

Question 15

Define Endemic species

Answer 15

Any species whose range is restricted to a limited geographical area.

Question 16

Define Environment

Answer 16

the external surroundings including all of the biotic and abiotic factors that surround and affect the survival and development of an organism or population

Question 17

Define Extinction

Answer 17

is the complete disappearance of a species from Earth.

Question 18

Define Food chain

Answer 18

the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant.

Question 19

Define Food web

Answer 19

The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves.

Question 20

Define Habitat

Answer 20

A habitat meets all the environmental conditions an organism needs to survive. For an animal, that means everything it needs to find and gather food, select a mate, and successfully reproduce. The main components of a habitat are shelter, water, food, and space.

Question 21

Define Marine

Answer 21

Relating to water, having some connection to a water habitat.

Question 22

Define Mutualism

Answer 22

the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has an equal benefit.

Question 23

Define Niche

Answer 23

the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors and how it in turn alters those same factors.

Question 24

Define Population

Answer 24

refers to a group of organisms of a species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time.

Question 25

Define Sedentary

Answer 25

is inhabiting the same locality throughout life; not migratory or nomadic.

Question 26

Define Sessile

Answer 26

attached directly by the base : not raised upon a stalk or peduncle a sessile leaf sessile bubbles

Question 27

Define Species

Answer 27

a group of organisms that can reproduce with one another in nature and produce fertile offspring.

Question 28

Define Speciation

Answer 28

how a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and develops its own unique characteristics.

Question 29

Define Substrate

Answer 29

A substrate is a molecule acted upon by an enzyme. A substrate is loaded into the active site of the enzyme, or the place that allows weak bonds to be formed between the two molecules.

Question 30

Define Symbiosis

Answer 30

any relationship or interaction between two dissimilar organisms. The specific kind of symbiosis depends on whether either or both organisms benefit from the relationship.

Question 31

Define Terrestrial

Answer 31

on or relating to the earth.

Question 32

Define Topography

Answer 32

the arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area.

Question 33

Define Trophic level

Answer 33

each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, consisting of organisms sharing the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.