Ecology Theory Flashcards
(18 cards)
Define niche
Functional role an organism plays in the community
Define biotic factors
Living factors
Define tropic level
A feeding stage in a food chain
Define competition
Struggle for scarce resources
Contest competition is the active physical struggle for resources where…
Only one organism wins
Scramble competition is where…
All the competing individuals get some of the resource
Community is
All different populations in an area
Edaphic factors are…
Soil ph and soil type
Name a food chain example
Grass rabbit fox
Name another food chain example
Dandelion butterfly thrush hawk
Explain the nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen is taken from the air, made available for living things, nitrogen in living things is later converted to nitrogen in the air
What is conservation
Wise management of natural resources to maintain wide range of habitat and prevent death or extinction
Define eutrophication
Addition of nutrients to fresh water
Name the three Rs of waste production control
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Name a limitation of pyramids of numbers
The size of the organism
Name four factors that control population
Competition, predation, parasitism, symbiosis
Name four factors affecting human population
War, famine, contraception, disease
Define biosphere
Part of the planet containing living organisms
