Unit 11; Ecology Vocabulary

Abiotic

Nonliving, factor in an ecosystem, such as moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, soil, and minerals.

Autotrophic

Organism that obtains its energy from abiotic sources such as sunlight or inorganic chemicals

Biogeochemical Cycle

Movement of a chemical through the biologicial and geological, living, or living or nonliving

Biomass

Total dry mass of all organisms in a given area

Biotic

Living things such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria

Biodiversity

Variety of life within an area

Biome

Regional or global community of organisms characteristics by the climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there

Carnivore

Organism that obtains energy by eating strictly animals.

Community

Collection of all the different populations that live in an one area

Competition

Ecological relationship in which two organisms attempt to obtain the same resource.

Competitive exclusion

Theory that states that no two species can occupy the same niche at the same time.

Consumer

Organisms that obtains its energy and nutrients by eating other organisms

Decomposer

Deteriorate that breaks down organic matter into simpler compounds, returning nutrients back into the ecosystem

Detritivore

Organism that eats dead organic matter

Ecology

Study of interactions among living things and their surroundings

Ecological niche

All the physical, chemical, and biological factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy, and reproduce in an ecosystem

Ecosystem

Collection of organisms and nonliving things, such as climate, soil, water, and rocks, in an area.

Generalist

Species that does not rely on a single source of prey

Habatat

Combined biotic and abiotic factors found in the area where an organisms live.

Herbivore

Organism that eats only plants

Heterotroph

Organism that obtains its energy and nutrients by consuming other organisms

Pioneer Species

Organism that is the first to live in a previously unhabated area

Predation

Process by which one organism hunts and kills another organism for food.

Producer

Organism that obtains its energy from abiotic sources such as sunlight or inorganic chemicals

Specialist

Consumer that eats only one type of organism

Succession

Sequence of biotic changes that regenerate a damaged community or start a community in a previously uninhabited area

Symbiosis

Ecological relationship between members of at least 2 different species that live in direct contact with one another