Ecology Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is an abiotic factor?
Non-living, physical and chemical properties of an ecosystem e.g. light intensity, temperature, soil pH.
What is a biotic factor?
Living properties of an ecosystem e.g. number of predators, population of producers.
What is a species?
A group of similar organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.
What is a habitat?
The location where an organism lives.
What is a population?
All the organisms of a particular species found in an ecosystem at any one time.
What is a community?
The populations of all species found in an ecosystem at any one time.
What is biodiversity?
The number and variety of living things found in an ecosystem or habitat.
What is an ecosystem?
The interactions between organisms (biotic environment) and the physical environment (abiotic environment).
What is an autotroph?
An organism that synthesises its own organic compounds from inorganic ones, usually through photosynthesis.
What is a producer?
An organism that synthesises its own organic compounds from inorganic ones (i.e. an autotroph) and later gets eaten by a consumer.
What is a heterotroph?
An organism that obtains its organic compounds by eating other organisms. Synonym with consumer.
What is competition in ecology?
A struggle between organisms for resources (e.g. food, water, shelter, mate) that are not present in sufficient supply.
What is a decomposer?
A general term for detritivores and saprotrophs that break down dead material such as leaves and wood.
What is a detritivore?
Animals such as woodlice and maggots that obtain organic nutrients from detritus by internal digestion.
What is a saprotroph?
Microbes such as fungi and bacteria that obtain organic nutrients from dead organisms by external digestion.
