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| What is ecology? | the study of how organisms interact with the living and nonliving things that surround them |
| Environment | every living and nonliving thing that surrounds an organism |
| ecosystem | any portion of the environment; made up of all the living things, such as bacteria, plants and animals, that interact with one another |
| biotic | the living things in an ecosystem that interact |
| abiotic | nonliving things in the environment such as soil, water, physical space and energy that influence the organisms. |
| habitat | a specific environment, |
| population | all the organisms of a species that live in the same area and make up a population |
| community | all the different populations combined |
| biosphere | all the Earth's ecosystems, the biologically inhabited portions of the planet |
| competition | the struggle for resources among organisms |
| limiting factors | factors in the environment that limit the size of populations |
| predators | kills and eats other organisms |
| prey | is killed and eaten for food |
| carrying capacity | the number of organisms of any single species that an ecosystem can support |
| The fact that an organism cannot live without interacting with its surroundings is a basic concept in the field of study known as | ecology |
| When two different species live in the same area and use the same limited resources, what occurs? | competition |
| All of the interactions that occur between the organisms and the physical factors in a pond environment are included in the... | ecosystem |
| The amount of salt in the air and water of costal areas determines which species can exist there. In these areas, salt functions as a... | limiting factor |
| ecological niche | the role that each species plays in the ecosystem |
| food chains | the relationship in any ecosystem between the predator and the prey |
| autotrophs | photosynthetic organisms that make their own food and in the process store the sun's energy--they are the producers |
| heterotrophs | must acquire food by consuming other organisms |
| herbivores | heterotrophs that survive on plant tissues |
| carnivores | heterotrophs that eat other animals |
| consumers | heterotrophs |
| decomposers | the wastes and dead bodies are consumed by decomposers. They recycle materials that can then be reused by producers |
| scavengers | consumers that eat dead organisms |
| parasites | organisms that attack other live organisms (called host organisms) |
| food webs | diagrams that show the many interconnected food chains that exist in the ecosystem |
| The earthworm lives and reproduces in the soil. Through its feeding, excretion and tunneling activities, the work adds nutrients and allows air to enter the soil. This describes the earthworm's... | niche |
| Among populations of any natural community, the basic food supply is always a critical factor because it is... | a means of transferring energy |
| Which organism is chiefly responsible for the recycling of dead matter? | decomposers |
| In a natural community in NY State, the producer organisms might include... | grasses, maple trees and weeds |
| The sequence which illustrates a generalized food chain in a natural community | autotrophh--> herbivore-->carnivore |
| In a food chain consisting of photosynthetic organisms, herbivores, carnivores, and organisms of decay, the principal function of the photosynthetic organisms is to... | capture energy from the environment |
| An organism that is most directly involved in recycling minerals from the dead tissues of rotting trees | saprophytes |
| biological control | a method that is not harmful to the environment (ex: method of pest control) |
| climax community | the stable stage that is established in an area as a result of the process of ecological succession |
| respiration and photosynthesis | processes most directly involved in the carbon-hydrogen-oxygen cycle |
| biomass | the amount of living matter as in a unit area of a natural habitat |
| mutualism | a relationship that benefits both organisms |
| commensalism | a relationship that benefits one organism but does not hurt the other organism |
| biodiversity | a measurement of how many different species are within an ecosystem |
| ecological succession | a series of changes by which one habitat changes into another |
| direct harvesting | the destruction or removal of a species from its habitat |
| imported species | when a species is taken from one environment and released in a different environment, either by accident or on purpose |
