Term
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Definition
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Term
| How is ecology related to pollution? |
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Definition
| Ecology studies how living and nonliving things affect each other. Pollution is one way that nonliving things (such as trash) affect living things. |
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Term
| Describe the typical responsibilities of an ecologist. |
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Definition
- study relationship between plants/animals and their environment (research)
- predict what would happen if something in the environment changed (what whould happen if a certain population died out?)
- plan/recommend steps to change an environment (steps to keep a population from dying out) |
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Term
| What are the two parts of an ecosystem? |
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Definition
Abiotic factors (non-living things such as rocks, light, temperature, pollution, wind, water, etc.)
Biotic factors (living things such as plants, animals)
They both affect each other. |
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Term
| Define ecosystem and give examples. |
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Definition
- all the living and nonliving things in an area (usually a small area)
- pond, field, section of forest, coastline, stream |
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Term
List common abiotic factors and
explain how they affect ecosystems. |
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Definition
- Light/heat - affect temperature, plant growth
- Wind - currents
- Topography - water temperature, amount of light reaching below the water
- Fire
- Soil
- Atmosphere - amount of oxygen |
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Term
| Tell the steps of the water cycle. |
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Definition
1. Transpiration (loss of water through plants) and evaporation (water turns into vapor) - water enters the atmosphere
2. Precipitation - water cools and falls from clouds
3. Runoff Water (water moves on surface of earth); Percolates (water enters soil) |
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Term
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Definition
| water that comes out of the ground as a spring |
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Term
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Definition
| all the members of the same type of living things (Deer population, rabbit population, ant population) |
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Term
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Definition
| number of individuals in an area |
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Term
| nutritional relationships |
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Definition
| what gets from from whom or what |
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Term
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Definition
| organisms that make their own food (green plants, algae) through photosynthesis |
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Term
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Definition
| organisms that eat all or part of another organism for food (animals, fungi, bacteria, humans) |
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Term
| Primary Productivity of an ecosystem |
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Definition
| the rate of photosynthesis by the producers (since everything relies on plants, and plants rely on photosynthesis, it's of PRIMARY importance) |
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Term
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Definition
| the nutritional relationships between organisms (shows who gets food from what) |
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Term
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Definition
Plants - Primary consumer (herbivore) - Seconday consumer - (small carnivore) - Tertiatry consumers (larger carnivore)
Grass - Rabbit - Snake - Hawk |
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Term
| How much energy produced by the sun is actually used for energy by the consumer (after reflection, respiration, etc.)? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| dead stuff in nature (leaves, trees, animal bodies) |
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Term
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Definition
| organisms that break down detritus into nutriet molecules that plants need to grow (turns dead stuff into compost) - bacteria and fungi |
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Term
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Definition
| another way to illustrate nutritional relationships. Grass on the bottom, rabbit on top, snake on top of that, hawk on the very top); shows how plants get most of the energy and final consumer (hawk) only get .5 percent of original energy |
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Term
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Definition
| feeding levels on an ecological pyramid |
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Term
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Definition
| total mass of living tissue |
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Term
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Definition
| number of different species in a ecosystem |
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Definition
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Definition
| a picture used to describe multiple food relationships |
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Term
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Definition
| no direct relationship between two animals in a food web |
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Term
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Definition
| two populations who depend on the same resource |
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Term
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Definition
| one population eats another population |
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Term
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Definition
| any close, long-term relationship between two organisms of different species |
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Term
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Definition
| when one popoulation is hurt by a second, but the second is not hurt by the first (bacteria makes humans sick, but humans do not hurt bactert for foodia) |
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Term
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Definition
| a parasite depends on the host, looking for a "free meal" (tape worm, fleas) |
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Term
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Definition
| one population benefits from a second and the second is not hurt by the first |
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