Ecosystems Quiz Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering key ecology terms and concepts from the Ecosystems Quiz Outline.

Biotic factor

A living or once-living component of an ecosystem that influences or shapes other organisms and their environment.

Abiotic factor

A non-living physical or chemical part of an ecosystem, such as sunlight, temperature, water, or soil.

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting living organisms together with the non-living physical environment they inhabit.

Trophic level

The specific position or step that an organism occupies in a food chain, food web, or ecological energy pyramid.

Producer

An organism that manufactures its own food and organic compounds, serving as the foundational trophic level of an ecosystem.

Primary consumer

An organism that occupies the second trophic level by feeding directly on producers.

Secondary consumer

A carnivore or omnivore that occupies the third trophic level by consuming primary consumers.

Tertiary consumer

A top-level predator that feeds on secondary consumers within a food chain or trophic pyramid.

Decomposer

An organism that breaks down dead or decaying organic matter, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Autotroph

An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances using light or chemical energy.

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and must obtain energy and nutrients by ingesting other organisms.

Herbivore

An organism that obtains energy solely by consuming producers such as plants or algae.

Carnivore

An organism that feeds exclusively on the flesh and tissue of other animals.

Omnivore

An organism that regularly feeds on both plants (producers) and animals (consumers).

Biomass

The total dry mass of all living organic matter contained within a specific trophic level, area, or ecosystem.

Niche

The specific functional role, behavior, and physical requirements of an organism or species within an ecosystem.

Habitat

The natural physical environment or location where a particular organism or species lives and survives.

Food chain

A single linear sequence showing how energy passes from one organism to another as one organism consumes another.

Food web

A complex network of interconnected food chains demonstrating multiple feeding pathways and energy flows in an ecosystem.

10% rule

The principle stating that only approximately $10\%$ of the energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next, while the remaining $90\%$ is lost as metabolic heat or unusable energy.

Trophic pyramid

A triangular diagram illustrating the decrease in available energy, biomass, or number of organisms at each successive trophic level from producers up to top consumers.