Ecology and Scientific Inquiry Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering ecology levels of organization, biotic and abiotic factors, trophic roles in food webs, symbiosis, types of scientific questions, and graph elements.

Ecology

The study of interactions within and between ecosystems.

Organism

An individual living unit, representing the initial level of ecological organization.

Population

A group of individuals belonging to the same species that live in the same area.

Species

A group of similar organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

Community

An assemblage of different populations of species living and interacting together in a defined area.

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting organisms along with their physical, non-living environment.

Biome

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms.

Biosphere

The highest level of ecological study, encompassing all living things and ecosystems across the Earth.

Biotic factors

The living or once-living parts and resources of an ecosystem.

Abiotic factors

The non-living physical and chemical components and resources in an ecosystem.

Food web

A complex system of interlocking food chains that illustrates the feeding relationships and energy flow across trophic levels.

Producer

An organism in a food web that creates its own food and energy, occupying a primary trophic level.

Consumer

An organism in a food web that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms.

Decomposer

An organism in a food web that breaks down dead organic material and returns nutrients to the ecosystem.

Symbiosis

A close, long-term interaction between organisms of two different species in the real world.

Mutualism

A type of symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the interaction.

Parasitism

A type of symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on or in another organism and harms it.

Commensalism

A type of symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Descriptive scientific question

A type of measurable scientific question aimed at describing the characteristics, traits, or behaviors of a given subject or species.

Comparative scientific question

A type of measurable scientific question that compares a variable or trait between two or more groups, conditions, or species.

Correlative scientific question

A type of measurable scientific question that examines the relationship or association between two measured variables.

Graph Elements (Title, Axis Titles, Scale)

The necessary components modified on a graph (such as a histogram, line, or pie graph) to accurately communicate data points as evidence.