Unit 6 Vocab: Plant Diversity and Ecology

Biology 2

Angiosperm

seed plant whose embryos are enclosed by fruit.

Botany

study of plants.

Cone

reproductive structure of gymnosperms inside of which the female gamete is fertilized and seeds

are produced.

Cotyledon

embryonic leaf inside of a seed.

Cuticle

in plants, a waxy layer that holds in moisture.

Dicot

flowering plant whose embryos have two cotyledons.

Flower

reproductive structure of an angiosperm.

Fruit

fertilized and mature ovary of a flower.

Gymnosperm

seed plant whose seeds are not enclosed by fruit.

Monocot

flowering plant whose embryos have one cotyledon.

Plant

multicellular eukaryote that produces its own food through photosynthesis.

Pollen grain

two-celled structure that contains the male form of the plant’s gamete.

Pollination

process by which seed plants become fertilized without the need for free-standing water.

Seed

structure used by some land plants to store and protect the embryo.

Stomata

pores in the cuticle of a plant through which gas exchange occurs.

Vascular system

collection of specialized tissues in some plants that transports mineral nutrients up from

the roots and brings sugars down from the leaves.

Wood

fibrous material made of dead cells that are part of the vascular system in some plants.

Abiotic

nonliving factors in an ecosystem, such as moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, soil, and minerals.

Biodiversity

variety of life within an area.

Biome

regional or global community of organisms characterized by the climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there.

Biosphere

all organisms and the part of Earth where they exist.

Biotic

living things, such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.

Community

collection of all of the different populations that live in one area.

Consumer

organism that obtains its energy and nutrients by eating other organisms.

Ecological footprint

Amount of land necessary to produce and maintain enough food, water, shelter, energy and waste.

Ecological niche

all of the physical, chemical, and biological factors that a species needs to survive, stay

healthy, and reproduce in an ecosystem.

Ecology

Study of the interactions among living things and their surroundings.

Ecosystem

collection of organisms and nonliving things, such as climate, soil, water, and rocks in an area.

Food chain

model that links organisms by their feeding relationships.

Food web

model that shows the complex network of feeding relationships within an ecosystem.

Greenhouse effect

normal warming effect produced when gasses, such as carbon dioxide and methane,

trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere.

Habitat

combined biotic and abiotic factors found in the area where an organism lives.

Nonrenewable resource

natural resource that is used more quickly than it can be formed.

Producer

organism that obtains its energy from abiotic sources, such as sunlight or inorganic chemicals.

Renewable resource

resource that replenishes itself quickly enough so that it will not be used faster than it can be produced.

Succession

sequence of biotic changes that regenerate a damaged community or start a community in a

previously uninhabited area.

Trophic level

level of nourishment in a food chain.