Chapter 2: Principles of Ecology Flashcards
What is Ecology?
The scientific discipline in which the relationships among living organisms and the interaction the organisms have with their environments are studied.
What is Biosphere?
The portion of Earth that supports life.
What are Biotic Factors?
The living factors in an organism’s environent.
What are Abiotic Factors?
The nonliving factors in an organism’s environment.
What is a Population?
Individual organisms of a single species that share the same geographic location at the same time.
What is a Biological Community?
A group of interacting populations that occupy the same geographic area at the same time.
What is an Ecosystem?
A biological community and all of the abiotic factors that affect it.
What is a Biome?
A large group of ecosystems that share the same climate and have similar type of communities.
What are the levels of organization?
Organism
Population
Biological Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Biosphere
What is a Habitat?
An area where an organism lives.
What is a Niche?
The role or position that an organism has in its environment.
What is Predation?
The act of one organism pursuing and consuming another organism for food.
What is Symbiosis and Mutualism?
Symbiosis: The close relationship that exists when two or more species live together.
Mutualism: The relationship between two or more organisms that live closely together and benefit from each other.
What is Commensalism and Parasitism?
Commensalism: A relationship in which one organism benefits from the other organism is neither helped or harmed.
Parasitism: A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another organism.
Autotroph
Produce their own food using the energy from the sunlight.
Heterotroph
Organism that gets its energy requirements by consuming other organisms.
Herbivore: Plants
Carnivore: Meat
Omnivore: Plants and Meat
Detritivores: Dead Organisms
Trophic Level
Each step in a food chain.
Biomass is…
The total mass of living matter at each trophic level.
Biochemical Cycle is…
The exchange of matter through the biosphere.
Water Cycle
Continuing Cycle.
Carbon Cycle
Photosynthesis is involved.
Nitrogen Cycle
Process of capture and conversion of nitrogen into a from that is usable by plant is : Nitrogen Fixation
DEnitrification: Bacteria convert nitrogen into gas again.
Phosphorous Cycle
Short-term and Long-term
Short term: Soil to producers to consumers and back.
Long-term: Precipitaion and rock formation included.
