ecology

Producers

Organisms, like green plants or algae, that make their own food using sunlight.

Primary Consumers

Herbivores that eat producers.

Secondary Consumers

Carnivores that eat primary consumers.

Apex Predator

Carnivores at the top of the food chain that have no predators.

Abiotic Factors

Non-living factors in an environment that affect living organisms (e.g., temperature, light intensity, moisture levels, soil pH).

Biotic Factors

Living factors in an environment that affect organisms (e.g., availability of food, new predators, new pathogens, competition).

Quadrat

A square frame used to sample slow-moving or sessile organisms to estimate population size.

Transect

A line across a habitat used to investigate a change in the distribution of organisms along an environmental gradient.

Ecology Core Practical

Using random quadrat sampling to estimate the population size of a plant species in a survey area.

Structural Adaptation

A physical feature of an organism's body that helps it survive (e.g., camouflage, thick fur, large surface area to volume ratio).

Behavioural Adaptation

A way an organism acts that helps it survive (e.g., migration, nocturnal activity).

Functional Adaptation

An internal biological process that helps an organism survive (e.g., desert animals producing highly concentrated urine, hibernation lowering metabolism).

Extremophile

An organism that lives in environments with extreme conditions, such as high temperature, high pressure, or high salinity.

Plant Defences

Physical (thorns, hairs), chemical (poisons, antibacterial chemicals), or mechanical (mimicry) features that deter herbivores.

Water Cycle Processes

Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and transpiration from plants.

Carbon Cycle Processes

Photosynthesis removes $CO_2$; respiration, combustion, and decay release $CO_2$ back into the atmosphere.

Decomposers

Microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) that break down dead plant and animal material by secreting enzymes.

Factors Affecting Decay

Temperature, moisture levels, and oxygen availability.

Biogas Generator

A vessel used to break down anaerobic waste into methane gas for fuel via decay.

Decay Core Practical

Investigate the effect of temperature on the rate of decay of milk by measuring pH change (using lipase and indicator).