Terminology
All terms from the unit:
Ecology- the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.
Organism- a form of life considered as an entity; an animal, plant, fungus, protistan, or moneran.
Population- the body of inhabitants of a place
Community- an interacting group of various species in a common location
Biome- a complex biotic community characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under theclimatic conditions of the region, especially such a community that has developed to climax.
Biotic Factor- a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem
Abiotic Factor- nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it
Keystone species- A species whose presence and role within an ecosystem has a disproportionate effect on other organisms within the system.
Autotroph- any organism capable of selfnourishment by using inorganic materials as a source of nutrients and using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis as a source of energy, as most plants and certain bacteria and protists.
Heterotroph- an organism requiring organic compounds for its principal source of food.
Photosynthesis- the complex process by which carbondioxide, water, and certain inorganic salts are converted intocarbohydrates by green plants, algae, and certain bacteria, using energy from the sun and chlorophyll.
Herbivore- A animal that eats only plants.
Carnivore- A animal that only eats other animals.
Omnivore- A animal that eats both plants and animals.
Detritivore- an organism that uses organic waste as a food source, as certain insects.
Decomposer- an organism, usually a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down the cells of dead plants andanimals into simpler substances.
Specialist- An organism that can only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet.
Generalist- An organism that can be able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources.
Trophic Level- The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food chain
FoodWeb- a series of organisms related by predatorprey and consumerresource interactions; the entirety ofinterrelated food chains in an ecological community.
HydrologicCycle- the natural sequence through which water passes into the atmosphere as water vapor, precipitates toearth in liquid or solid form, and ultimately returns to the atmosphere through evaporation.
Biogeochemicalcycle-the natural circulation pathways of the essential elements of living matter. These elements invarious forms flow from the nonliving (abiotic) to the living (biotic) components of the biosphere and backto the nonliving again. In order for the living components of a major ecosystem (e.g., a lake or forest) tosurvive, all the chemical elements that makeup living cells must be recycled continuously
Nitrogen fixation-this process as performed by certain bacteria found in the nodules of leguminous plants, which make the resulting nitrogenous compounds available to their host plants.
Biomass- the amount of living matter in a given habitat, expressed either as the weight of organismsper unit area or as the volume of organisms per unit volume of habitat.
Energy Pyramid- A depiction of the amount of energy in each trophic level of an ecosystem.
Habitat- the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism.
