Biology Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is a biotic factor?
Any living part of the environment with which an organism might interact, including animals, plants, fungi (mushrooms), and bacteria.
What is a abiotic factor?
Any non-living part of the environment, such as sunlight, heat, precipitation, humidity, water, or wind currents, soil types, etc.
What are primary producers?
the first producers of energy-rich compounds that are later used by other organisms.
Plants, algae, and certain bacteria are called what?
Autotrophs (primary producers)
What is the most common process for primary producers to harness solar energy?
Photosynthesis
What are the main photosynthetic producers on land?
Plants
What fills that role in freshwater ecosystems and the sunlit
upper ocean.
Algae
What are consumers?
Organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients.
What are heterotrophs (consumers)?
Organisms that must acquire energy from other organisms by ingesting in some way.
What is the type of animal that kills and eats other animals? These animals can be
snakes, dogs, cats, a giant river otter, etc.
Carnivores
What are scavengers (animals)? They are called “Natures Clean Up Crew”.
animals that consume the
carcasses of other animals that have been killed by predators or have
died of other causes.
What are examples of decomposers and what do they do?
Some decomposers are bacteria and fungi, they feed by breaking down organic matter.
What are herbivores?
Common herbivores include cows, caterpillars, and deer.
Animals that obtain energy and
nutrients by eating plant leaves, roots, seeds, or fruits.
What are omnivores?
Humans, bears, and pigs are omnivores.
Omnivores are animals whose diets naturally include a
variety of different foods that usually include both plants and animals.
What is a food web?
A network of feeding interactions because most feeding relationships are much more complicated in most ecosystems.
What does a food web do?
It links all the food chains in an ecosystem together.
