ecology

What is ecology

The study of how organisms interact with the living and nonliving things

What are biotic factors

Living parts of the ecosystem

What are abiotic factors

No living parts of the environment

What is a niche

A species’ role in its environment

What is a population

All the organisms of a singular species that live in the same area

What is a community

All the different populations in an area

What is a biosphere

All of earths ecosystems

What is competition

The struggle for resources among organisms

What are limiting factors

The living and nonliving things in the environment that limit the size of populations

What is carrying capacity

The maximum population size that an ecosystem can support

What are predators

The animals that eat other organisms called prey

What do autotrophs do

Make their own food by photosynthesis

What do heterotrophs do

Must eat something for food

What are herbivores

Things that can only eat plants

What are carnivores

Things that can only eat animals

What are omnivores

Things that can eat both plants and animals

What are consumers

Must eat something for food (same as heterotroph)

What are producers

Make their own food by photosynthesis (same as autotrophs)

What are decomposers

The recyclers in an ecosystem, they break down organisms and return the nutrients to the soil

What are scavengers

Things that eat dead organisms that they did not kill themselves

What are parasites

Things that live off of another organism, parasite benefits while the host doesn’t

What is a food chain

A diagram of the linear feeding relationship of organisms in an ecosystem

What do all food chains begin with

Producers (autotroph or plant)

What do all food chains end with

Decomposers

What do the arrows in a food chain show

The direction of the energy flow

What is a food web

A diagram composed of many interlocking food chains

What is the primary source of life energy on earth

The sun

What is an energy pyramid

A diagram showing the energy available at each trophic level (decreases by 90% at each level as it goes up)

What are self sustaining ecosystem requirements

A constant energy source, a process to capture the energy, and a way to recycle elements back to the ecosystem

What is ecological succession

The orderly sequence of changes in the communities living in a given ecosystem over time (pioneer organism → climax community)