Hon Bio Unit 6: Circle of Life

Population

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

Community

All the different populations that live together in an area

Ecosystem

A community of organisms and their abiotic environment

Autotroph

An organism that makes its own food (general term)

Heterotroph

organism that obtains energy from the foods it consumes; also called a consumer

Producer

An organism that can make its own food. (trophic level)

primary consumer

An organism that eats producers

secondary consumer

An organism that eats primary consumers

tertiary consumer

An organism that eats secondary consumers

Herbivore

organism that obtains energy by eating only plants. aka primary consumer

Omnivore

organism that obtains energy by eating both plants and animals

Carnivore

organism that obtains energy by eating animals

Decomposer

organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter

trophic level

each of several hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.

biotic factors

living parts of an ecosystem

abiotic factors

nonliving parts of an ecosystem

limiting factor

Any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts the existence, numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.

carrying capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

Matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space

Biodiversity

The amount of biological or living diversity per unit area. It includes the concepts of species diversity, habitat diversity and genetic diversity.

Extinction

A term that typically describes a species that no longer has any known living individuals.

habitat destruction

Damage done to a habitat that results in the loss of resources that organisms need to survive, like food, water, and shelter

invasive species

species that enter new ecosystems and multiply, harming native species and their habitats

pollution

the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Overexploitation

Practice of harvesting or hunting to such a degree that remaining individuals may not be able to replenish the population

climate change (global warming)

A rise in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans. It is caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting from human activities such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels.

ecological footprint

the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

carbon footprint

measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide

logistic growth

Population growth that is controlled by limited resources. Usually Carrying Capacity has been reached

Exponential growth

growth whose rate becomes ever more rapid in proportion to the growing total number or size.

density-dependent limiting factor

limiting factor that depends on population density

Density-independent limiting factor

limiting factor that affects all populations in similar ways, regardless of population size or density