Untitled Flashcard Set

Ecosystem

An ecosystem includes all the living (biotic) organisms and non-living (abiotic) parts that interact within a specific area.

Abiotic factors

These are the non-living components of an ecosystem, such as sunlight, water (rain), temperature, and the pH of the soil.

Biotic factors

These are all the living organisms within an ecosystem, like plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.

Biotope

A biotope is a specific natural environment that has a uniform set of physical conditions and supports a distinct community of life.

Habitat

A habitat is the natural home or environment where an organism or species lives, finds food, and reproduces.

Niche

An organism's niche describes its specific role in an ecosystem, including how it uses resources and interacts with other species.

Population

A population consists of all the individuals of a single species living and potentially interbreeding in a particular area.

Community

A community is made up of all the different populations of various species that live and interact with each other in an area.

Symbiosis

Symbiosis refers to any close and long-term interaction between two different biological species, which can be beneficial or harmful.

Predation

Predation is an ecological interaction where one organism, the predator, hunts, kills, and consumes another organism, its prey, for food.

Carrying capacity

Carrying capacity is the maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely without degradation.

Producers (autotrophs)

Producers, also called autotrophs, are organisms that create their own food using energy from sunlight (like plants) or chemical reactions (some bacteria).

Photoautotrophs

Photoautotrophs are producers that specifically use light energy from the sun to make their own food through photosynthesis.

Chemoautotrophs

Chemoautotrophs are producers that generate energy by oxidizing inorganic chemical compounds, not by using sunlight.

Consumers (heterotrophs)

Consumers, also known as heterotrophs, are organisms that get their energy and nutrients by eating other organisms, such as herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

Decomposers (saprotrophs)

Decomposers