Unit 5 - Ecology & Plants

Question 1

biotic factor

Answer 1

living things within an ecosystem

Question 2

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 2

a process that recycles nitrogen through an ecosystem; steps include nitrogen fixation, nitrification, assimilation, ammonification & denitrification

Question 3

water cycle

Answer 3

examples are condensation, precipitation & evaporation

Question 4

pioneer community

Answer 4

the first organisms to establish themselves in a community

Question 5

abiotic factors

Answer 5

nonliving parts of the ecosystem

Question 6

primary succession

Answer 6

community that occurs on inorganic material like rock

Question 7

secondary succession

Answer 7

a well established community; it gets destroyed (fire,flood,etc); the community grows back

Question 8

biosphere

Answer 8

portion of the earth that supports life

Question 9

biome

Answer 9

large geographic area of similar climate & life forms

Question 10

density-dependent factor

Answer 10

environmental element whose effects are determined by population density; predation,disease, parasitism

Question 11

density-independent factor

Answer 11

environmental element whose effects are NOT determined by population density; natural disaster, clear cutting of a forest

Question 12

limiting factor

Answer 12

a reason for a decrease in population size; not enough food, shelter, water, space, or disease, natural disaster, habitat loss/destruction

Question 13

greenhouse effect

Answer 13

natural situation in which heat is retained by a layer in the atomosphere

Question 14

carnivore

Answer 14

animal that only eats meat

Question 15

commensalism

Answer 15

symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits & the other is not hurt (unaffected)

Question 16

food web

Answer 16

consists of interconnected food chains within an ecosystem; how energy flows through an ecosystem

Question 17

decomposer

Answer 17

organism that breaks down dead tissue &returns it back into the soil; fungi & bacteria; usually the trophic level to be left out of a food chain/web; AKA saprobe

Question 18

ecology pyramid

Answer 18

a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem

Question 19

ecology

Answer 19

literally translates to “the study of the house”; the study of the relationships of living things to their environment

Question 20

ecosystem

Answer 20

organisms interacting with their physical environment; all the living things, from plants and animals to microscopic organisms, that share an environment

Question 21

habitat

Answer 21

an area in which an organism lives

Question 22

herbivore

Answer 22

animal that eats only plants

Question 23

mutualism

Answer 23

symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit

Question 24

nitrogen fixation

Answer 24

process by which atmospheric nitrogen is incorporated into compounds that plants can use

Question 25

community

Answer 25

population of different species interacting in an area

Question 26

carrying capacity

Answer 26

maximum individuals in a species that the environment can support

Question 27

producer

Answer 27

autotroph; organism that makes it’s own food

Question 28

food chain

Answer 28

1 possible feeding relationship

Question 29

trophic level

Answer 29

feeding level within an ecosystem

Question 30

symbiosis

Answer 30

a relationship where 2 organisms live

together

Question 31

predation

Answer 31

one organism hunts another organism for food

Question 32

population

Answer 32

a group of individuals within the same species

Question 33

parasitism

Answer 33

symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits & one is harmed

Question 34

carbon cycle

Answer 34

how carbon is recycled through the ecosystem; includes steps like fossil fuels, photosynthesis, respiration & decomposers

Question 35

omnivore

Answer 35

animals that eat plants & animals

Question 36

autotroph

Answer 36

producer; makes its own food

Question 37

ecological succession

Answer 37

predictable, orderly replacement of communities in an ecosystem