Unit 5 Ecology

Front 1

Habitat

Back 1

Place where an organism lives

Front 2

Population

Back 2

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

Front 3

Community

Back 3

a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other

Front 4

niche

Back 4

the status of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species)

Front 5

predation

Back 5

An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism

Front 6

symbioses

Back 6

Close interactions among species. Those include predation, parasitism, competition, mutualism, and commensalism.

Front 7

Carrying Capacity

Back 7

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

Front 8

Producer

Back 8

An organism that can make its own food.

Front 9

Photosynthesis

Back 9

Plants use the sun's energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars

Front 10

Chemosynthesis

Back 10

Process by which some organisms, such as certain bacteria, use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates

Front 11

Consumer

Back 11

An organism that eats other organisms

Front 12

Detrivore

Back 12

scavenger, such as an earthworm, that feeds on dead plant and animal matter

Front 13

Food Web

Back 13

a community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains

Front 14

Food Chain

Back 14

community of organisms where each member is eaten in turn by another member

Front 15

Energy Pyramid

Back 15

A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web

Front 16

Renewable sources

Back 16

sources of energy able to be replaced through ongoing natural processes

Front 17

nonrenewable sources

Back 17

resource that is considered finite because it is not self-replenishing or takes a very long period of time to do so

Front 18

Resource Depletion

Back 18

the act of using resources faster than they can be restored or replaced

Front 19

Biome

Back 19

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms

Front 20

Ecosystem

Back 20

A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment

Front 21

Salinity

Back 21

A measure of the amount of dissolved salts in a given amount of liquid

Front 22

Ecological Succcession

Back 22

is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time

Front 23

Climax Community

Back 23

A stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species over time

Front 24

Pioneer Species

Back 24

First species to populate an area during primary succession

Front 25

Eutrophication

Back 25

A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria.

Front 26

Deforestation

Back 26

Destruction of forests

Front 27

desertification

Back 27

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Front 28

urban sprawl

Back 28

The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.

Front 29

Reforestation

Back 29

The restoration (replanting) of a forest that had been reduced by fire or cutting

Front 30

is the process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds, or lake beds

Back 30

point source pollution

Front 31

non point source pollution

Back 31

pollution that does not have a specific point of release

Front 32

photo chemical smog

Back 32

an atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollution

Front 33

Acid precipitation

Back 33

Precipitation, such as rain, sleet, or snow, that contains a high concentration of acids, often because of the pollution of the atmosphere

Front 34

Particulate matter

Back 34

a small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant)

Front 35

global warming

Back 35

An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes)

Front 36

greenhouse effect

Back 36

Natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases

Front 37

air quality index

Back 37

A measure of air pollution issued daily by the EPA