Ecology!

Commensalism

One organism benefits, while the other organism is neither harmed nor helped.

Producers

Organisms that make their own food for energy.

Secondary Succession

When a change following a disturbance damages an existing community but leaves the soil intact.

Decomposers

Organisms that break down other dead organisms for energy.

Succession

A series of changes in the species makeup in a community following a disturbance.

Omnivores

Eat plants and animals.

Innate

Inherited; instinctive; automatic; consistent.

Parasitism

One organism obtains its food at the expense of another organism.

Cooperation

Makes certain tasks easier and prevents the species from being eaten.

Predation

An interaction in which one organism eats another.

Exponential Growth

When a population multiplies by a constant factor at constant time intervals.

Symbiotic Relationships

Close interactions between species in which one of the species lives in, on, or near the other.

Dominance hierarchy

A social ranking within a group, like a pecking order.

Mutualism

Both organisms benefit.

Ecology

Interactions between organisms and their environment.

Biotic

Living factors

Abiotic

Non-living physical and chemical conditions.

Individual

Individuals of a certain species.

Population

A group of individual organisms of the same species living in a particular area.

Community

All the organisms inhabiting a particular area.

Ecosystem

Includes all the biotic and abiotic factors in an area.

Biome

A regional ecosystem classified according to the climate and the predominant vegetation in the area.

Biosphere

The sum of all the biotic and abiotic factors on Earth.

Behavior

Everything an animal does and how it does it or its response to stimuli in its environment.

Learned

Changes with experience and environment; variable; flexible

Social Behaviors

Interactions between individuals develop as evolutionary adaptations.

Carrying Capacity

The greatest number of individuals that a space can support with its available resources.

Limiting Factors

Chemical or physical factors that limit the existence, growth, abundance, or distribution of an organism.

Density Dependent Factors

Factors whose effects on the size or growth of the population vary with the population density.

Density Independent Factors

Factors that affect the size of the population regardless of the population density.

Niche

A species unique living arrangement within a community that includes habitat, food resources, time of day when the species is most active, and other factors specific to that organism's way of life.

Habitat

A physical location where an organism lives.

Competition

When members of different of the same species compete for limited resources such as food and places to live.

Interspecific Competition

Competition between members of a different species, ex. squirrels and chipmunks.

Intraspecific Competition

Competition amongst members of the same species.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

If two species are so similar in their requirements that the same resource limits both species' growth, one species may succeed over the other.

Primary Succession

When a community arises in a virtually lifeless area with no soil.

Biodiversity

The number of different species in a given habitat.

Invasive Species

Species that enter into new ecosystems and spread causing damage to native species and their habitats.

Consumers

Organisms that feed on producers or other consumers for energy.

Herbivores

Eat plants.

Carnivores

Eat animals.

Food Chain

A sequence of organisms each of which is a source of food for the next.

Food Web

All the food chains of a community connected together.

Soil Formation

When lichens and mosses break down rock and minerals and add organic material when they die.