a community of living (biotic) organisms interacting with the non-living (abiotic) components of their environment as a system through various nutrients and energy cycles
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biotic
living
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abiotic
nonliving
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species
organisms that resemble each other; are similar in genetic makeup and behavior, and are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring
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biodiversity
variety of different species of living organisms within a particular ecosystem; includes diversity within and between species
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population
organisms of the same species that interact with each other and occupy a specific area
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community
many different populations living in one area; can be similar or different populations of species
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biome
major, regional, or global biotic communities characterized by climate and diversity of organisms
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biosphere
consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists; inclusive of land, water, and atmosphere
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autotroph/producer
an organism that uses energy from the Sun to produce usable forms of energy
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heterotroph/consumer
organisms that use other organisms as a source of food energy and body building materials
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trophic level
the position of an organism in a food web/chain
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scavenger
organism that feeds on dead organisms
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decomposer
an organism that breaks down dead organisms/organic material; typically fungi, insects, earthworms, and bacteria
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detrivore
organism which feeds on organic (dead) material
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biomass
the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem; the sum of all living organisms in a given area/trophic level
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niche
a particular area within a habitat occupied by an organism, as well as the function of that organism within it ecological community
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habitat
the natural home/environment of an organism
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competition
when two or more organisms compete for the same resources including water, prey, space, etc.
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competitive exclusion principle
no two species can occupy the same niche indefinitely in a habitat where there is not enough of a particular resource to meet the needs of both species; essentially, one species will eventually prevail over the other
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resource partitioning
the division of limited resources by species in an attempt to avoid competition in an ecological niche
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limiting factor
any abiotic (non-living factor) that limits or prevents the growth of a population
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exponential growth
starts slowly but then accelerates as the population increases because the base size of the population is increasing; depicted by a J-curve
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logistic growth
when exponential growth has to stop; depicted by an S-curve; due to carrying capacity of the environment (not enough resources to keep growing in population size)
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carrying capacity
the maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely
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Flashcard (38)