Bio test vocab

Organism

An individual living thing

Population

A group of organisms that belong to the same species and live in the same area

Community

Populations of living things in a particular area

Ecosystem

All the biotic and abiotic factors in an area

Biome

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms

Abiotic

Non-living things

Biotic

Living things

Food chain

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

Food web

A community of organisms where there are several connected food chains

Producer

An organism that can make its own food.

Consumer

Organisms that eats other organisms or organic matter

Decomposer (One type of detritivore)

Organisms that break down waste/dead organisms

Scavenger (Other type of detritivore)

Eats dead organisms

Apex predator

Top predator in an ecosystem

10% rule

10% of energy from an organism is transferred up the food chain

Biomagnification/Bioaccumulation

Accumulation of pollutants at higher levels of a food chain

Precipitation

The falling to earth of any form of water

Percolation

Water moving through soil and rock due to gravity.

Evaporation

Water changing into an atmospheric gas

Transpiration

Evaporation of water from plants

Absorption

Water taken in by a plant

Combustion

Burning something

Respiration

The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by humans and animals; taking in oxygen too.

Carbon sink

Storage space for carbon Ex: fossil fuels, coal, etc

Nitrification

The process by which nitrites and nitrogen is produced by bacteria in the soil (nitrifying bacteria)

Nitrogen fixation

Process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia

Dentrification

Conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas (dentrifying bacteria)

Immigration

Migration to a new location

Emigration

Migration from a location

Type I

Low birth rate, low death rate until old age

K-strategist (follows Type I)

Reproduce late in life; few offspring; care for offspring

Type III

High birthrate, high death rate at early age

R-strategist (follows Type III)

Reproduce early in life; many small unprotected offspring: no care for offspring

Type II

Death rate is constant over organism's life span

Exponential growth (J shaped graph)

Amount of organisms grows exponentially over time. (unlimited resources)

Logistic growth (J and ~ shaped graph)

Amount of organisms grows exponentially until it hits carrying capacity. (limited resources)

Population dispersion

Way in which individuals of a population are spread out over an area or volume (Clumped, uniform, random)

Population density

Number of individuals per given area

Limiting factor

Any biotic or abiotic factor that cause a decrease in population growth.

Density dependent factors

Limiting factor that depends on population size

Density independent factors

Limiting factor that affects all populations in similar ways, regardless of population size

Green World Hypothesis

Herbivores consume relatively little plant mass because they are held in check by predators, parasites and disease.

Keystone species

A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem

Tropic cascade

A single species can affect the well-being of a whole environment