Ecology and Current Environmental Issues

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering basic ecology terms, ecosystem components, nutrition types, energy flow, and current environmental problems based on the lecture notes.

Ecology

The science that studies life areas, large ecosystems, and the environment.

Population

A community formed by individuals of the same species living in a specific area, such as the Kermes oak in Kazdağları.

Habitat

The natural area where a species lives and can reproduce, such as kangaroos in Australia.

Community

A collection of populations consisting of more than two species living together.

Ecological Niche

The specific 'job' or functional role an organism performs in nature, such as food production for green plants or decomposition for saprophytic fungi.

Ecosystem

The combination of all living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components in an environment.

Ecotone

The transition or intersection area between two different ecosystems where species diversity and competition are high.

Tolerance

The ability of an organism to withstand and cope with changes in environmental conditions.

Biotope

Large geographical areas where communities can live.

Flora

The total of all plants, fungi, and bacteria in an ecosystem, often used to refer to vegetation cover.

Fauna

A term expressing all the animal life within a specific ecosystem.

Dominant Species

The species that is most striking and effective in terms of numbers and activity within an ecosystem.

Indicator Species

Sensitive species with the lowest tolerance for a specific condition, such as trout requiring cold and oxygen-rich water.

Endemic Species

Species that can only live in specific, restricted regions of the world, such as the Van cat or the Tasmania devil.

Invasive Species

Resilient species with high ecological tolerance that spread to different biomes and reduce species diversity, such as the pufferfish in the Mediterranean.

Microclimate

Small-scale climatic changes within a specific ecosystem, such as varying light levels in the layers of the Amazon rainforest.

Photoperiodism

The developmental response of organisms to the duration of light, categorizing plants into short-day, long-day, or neutral-day types.

Autotrophs (Producers)

Organisms that produce their own organic food from inorganic substances; can be photosynthetic or chemosynthetic.

Saprophytes (Decomposers)

Organisms that digest dead plants and animals using extracellular enzymes, increasing soil minerals and recycling matter.

Holozoic Nutrition

A type of heterotrophic nutrition where food is taken in as solid particles and digested internally, divided into herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

Food Chain

The linear sequence of organisms in a community through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

Biomass (Biyokütle)

The total mass of organic matter belonging to organisms at a specific trophic level in a food chain.

$10\%$ Rule

An ecological principle stating that an organism transfers only about $10\%$ of the energy it receives to the next trophic level.

Biological Accumulation

The phenomenon where substances like DDT and heavy metals accumulate in tissues and increase in concentration toward the top of the food chain.

Nitrification

The process in the nitrogen cycle where ammonia ($NH_3$) is converted into nitrite ($NO_2$) and then into nitrate ($NO_3$) by chemosynthetic bacteria.

Eutrophication

The uncontrolled increase of algae in water due to high mineral levels, leading to oxygen depletion, foul odors (putrefaction), and fish deaths.

Carbon Footprint

The total amount of $CO_2$ released into the atmosphere due to human activities such as transportation and heating.

Ecological Footprint

The geographical area required to produce the resources a population consumes and to dispose of the waste it generates.