ecology unit set 3 vocab (part 1)

autotroph

autotroph

an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.

producer

a person, company, or country that makes, grows, or supplies goods or commodities for sale.

heterotroph

an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances.

consumer

Living things that have to hunt, gather and eat their food

food chain

a series of (usually metal) rings or links fitted into one another to make a flexible ligament.

food web

a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

energy transfer

The conversion of one form of energy into another, or the movement of energy from one place to another.

primary consumer

make up the second trophic level

herbivore

an organism that mostly feeds on plants.

trophic level

each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.

carnivore

an organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals

omniwore

an organism that eats plants and animals.

secondary consumer

largely carnivores that feed on the primary consumers or herbivores

tertiary consumer

those that eats the secondary consumers (large predators)

decomposer

organism that breaks down dead organic material

interdependence

All organisms in an ecosystem depend upon each other

ecological disruption

an event or force, of nonbiological or biological origin, that brings about mortality to organisms and changes in their spatial patterning

physical component

the non-living part of the environment

biological component

the branch of biology that studies how organisms interact with their environment and other organisms

ecological succession

the process by which the mix of species and habitat in an area changes over time