Apologia Biology, 2nd edition, Module 10

Ecology

The study of the interactions between living and nonliving things

Population

A group of interbreeding organisms coexisting together

Community

A group of populations living and interacting in the same area

Ecosystem

An association of living organisms and their physical environment

Biome

A group of ecosystems classified by climate and plant life

Primary consumer

An organism that eats producers

Secondary consumer

An organism that eats primary consumers

Tertiary consumer

An organism that eats secondary consumers

Ecological pyramid

A diagram that shows the biomass of organisms at each trophic level

Biomass

A measure of the total dry mass of organisms within a particular region

Transpiration

Evaporation of water from the leaves of a plant

Watershed

An ecosystem where all water runoff drains into a single body of water

Greenhouse effect

The process by which certain gases (principally water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) trap heat that would otherwise escape the earth and radiate into space