Studied by 4 peopleDefine ecology
The study of the environment and how organisms interact with it
Define community
Populations of different species living alongside each other and interacting with each other
Define population
A group of organisms belonging to the same species inhabiting the same area at the same time
Define species
A group of organisms that can potentially interbreed to produce fertile offspring
Define ecosystem
A community and its abiotic environment
Define biome
A biogeographical unit defined by the types of organisms present (eg. aquatic biome may contain marine ecosystems)
Define biosphere
The region of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere that is inhabited by living things
Define habitat
The environment in which a species usually lives
Define niche
The match of a species to a specific environmental condition
Define consumer
A heterotroph that feeds on other organisms via ingestion
Define producer
An organism that synthesizes its own biomass from sunlight for other organisms to feed on
Define autotroph
An organism (such as most plants) which creates its own biomass/energy, normally from sunlight
Define heterotroph
An organism that obtains its biomass/energy from ingesting other organisms
Define saprotroph
A heterotroph that obtains organic nutrients from dead organisms by external digestion (such as bracket fungus)
Define detritivore
A heterotroph that obtains organic nutrients from detritus by internal digestion (such as woodlice)
What is the difference between a decomposer and a detritivore?
Decomposers include bacteria and fungi
Detritivores are larger organisms such as earthworms and woodlice
What is a carnivore?
An organism that eats animals/meat
What is a herbivore?
An organism that eats plants
What is an omnivore?
An organism that eats plants and animals
What is a specialist feeder?
An organism that only eats one thing (eg. giant pandas eating only bamboo)
What is a generalist feeder?
An organism that eats many different types of foods (eg. urban foxes scavenging)
What is a mesocosm?
A small-scale investigation
Self-sustaining ecosystems
They provide sufficient biological complexity compared to the natural environment being modelled but allow more variables being controlled
How do carbon compounds in dead organic matter become methane?
Anaerobic conversion by methanogenic Archaeans
Which domain do methanogenic bacteria belong to?
Archaea
Name the process by which organic compounds in autotrophs are transferred to heterotrophs
Feeding
What does oxidation do to atmospheric methane?
It turns it into water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
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