Ecology Vocab
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- decomposers
- organisms that break down and absorb nutrients from dead organisms or waste products from organisms. Bacteria, some protozoans, and most fungi. These organisms break down the dead organisms into basic molecules so that their nutrients can be recycled back into the enviornment
- habitat
- is the place where an organism lives out its life. Different species of organisms may have the same habitat but each has a different niche so they can survive in the habitat.
- population
- interbreeding individuals of one species that compete for food, water, and mates, and live in the same place at the same time
- pyramid of numbers
- shows number relationships between numbers of organisms at different trophic levels
- biotic
- all of the living organisms that inhabit an enviornment
- abiotic
- all the nonliving parts of the enviornment. such as, air currents, temperature, moisture, light, minerals in the soil
- pyramid of biomass
- shows the living mass at each trophic level in a food web or food chain
- organism
- an individual living thing
- community
- several interacting populations that inhabit a common enviornment and are able to function because each organism in the ecosystem depends on other organisms
- ecological pyramid
- shows relationships in food chains and food webs. The bottom of the food pyramid represents the producers, the next level the herbivores, the next 1st carnivores, and the next/top carnivore.
- niche
- is the role a species plays in a community such as feeding relationships, space, and what organism needs to survive in the enviornment
- pyramid of energy
- shows energy relationships between trophic levels in the form of calories
- heterotrophs
- these are organisms that depend on other organisms for their source of food and energy. They are known as consumers
- food webs
- tries to explain all the feeding and all the feeding relationships at each trophic level in a community. It is more realisitc than a food chain since most organisms feed on more that one organism
- autotrophs
- organisms that use energy from the sun or energy stored in chemical compounds to manufacture their own food. Examples: green plants/ producers
- biosphere
- the area of the Earth where all life exists
- ecosystem
- populations in a community and abiotic factors with which they interact; examples are terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
- scavengers
- animals that consume the remains of dead organisms and their refuse. Example: vulture
- food chain
- shows the simple relationship of what organism consumes what organism. This relationship very seldom exists in nature since it represents only only one way that energy can be transferred into an ecosystem.