Ecology and Population Biology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering roles in an ecosystem, ecological relationships, population growth, sampling methods, succession, human impact, biodiversity, and environmental factors.

Producers

Organisms in an ecosystem that represent where energy initially enters the ecosystem.

Consumers

Organisms that obtain energy by feeding on other organisms within a food chain or food web.

Decomposers

Organisms responsible for recycling energy and nutrients by breaking down dead organic matter.

Competition

An ecological relationship where organisms contend with one another for limited environmental resources.

Predation

An ecological relationship in which one organism eats another organism.

Parasitism

An ecological relationship in which one organism benefits while the other organism is harmed.

Mutualism

An ecological relationship in which both organisms benefit from the interaction.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size that an environment can support, at which point population growth typically levels off.

Mark & Recapture

A population sampling method where scientists capture and mark organisms, release them, capture a second sample later, and count how many marked organisms are recaptured to estimate total population size.

Succession

The gradual change of an ecosystem over time.

Primary Succession

Ecosystem development that occurs in an area with no established soil, starting with pioneer organisms to form a developing community.

Secondary Succession

Ecosystem recovery that occurs after a disturbance where soil remains, resulting in a generally faster recovery of the community.

Pioneer Organisms

Early colonizers that initiate community development during primary succession when no soil is present.

Fertilizer Runoff Chain

A sequence of ecosystem cause-and-effect steps: $\text{Fertilizer runoff} \rightarrow \text{nutrients} \rightarrow \text{algae growth} \rightarrow \text{decomposition} \rightarrow \text{oxygen levels} \rightarrow \text{aquatic organisms}$.

Biodiversity

The variety of organisms within an area, evaluated by the number of species present and how evenly organisms are distributed among those species.

Abiotic Factors

Non-living environmental factors, such as temperature, water, sunlight, soil, and rainfall, that affect organisms in an ecosystem.

Biotic Factors

Living components of an ecosystem that interact with and can be affected by abiotic factors.