Ecology Test

The study of interactions between living things & their surroundings

An individual living thing

A group of the same species living in an area

A group of different species living in an area

The living & nonliving things in a given area

A global community of organisms based on climate

Living things

Nonliving things

The variety of living things in an ecosystem

A species with a very large effect on its ecosystem

Gets its energy by making its own food

Gets its energy by eating other living things

Organisms that only eat plants

Organisms that only eat meat

Organisms that eat both plants & animals

Organisms that eat dead matter

Detritivores that break down organic matter into nutrients that are recycled back into the environment

Organisms with a specific diet

Organisms with a varying diet

The levels in a food chain

Shows the distribution of energy among trophic levels

Between trophic levels, _____ of the energy is lost into the atmosphere as heat

Measures the total dry mass of organisms in a given area

Measures the number of individual organisms by trophic level

The process turning waste & decay into ammonia (NH3)

The process changing ammonia (NH3) into nitrates (NO3)

The absorption of nitrates (NO3) by plants & animals

The process changing nitrates (NO3) into nitrogen (N2)

The process of phosphorus leaving the soil into a body of water

The process of forming new rocks with phosphorus

The process of bringing phosphate up from rocks in a body of water to hills

The process turning nitrogen into ammonia (NH3)

Where a species lives

A species’ job, and how it lives within a habitat, including food, abiotic conditions, & behavior

2 species competing for the same resources, leading one species to be pushed into another niche or go extinct

Dividing of niche between 2 competing species

Species occupying similar niches in different geological regions

Competition between different species

Competition between the same species

Process by which one organism feeds on another

An ecological relationship between organisms of a different species

A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from each other

A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other is neutral

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed

The number of individuals living in an area

Formula for population density

Types of geographic dispersion

Dashed line

Filled-in line

Dotted line

Factors determining population size

Occurs when population size increases dramatically over time

Begins with slow growth, then brief exponential growth, before leveling off at a stable size

The maximum number of individuals in a species an environment can support

Density-dependent limiting factors

Density-independent limiting factors

Development of an ecosystem in a previously uninhabited area

Reestablishment of a damaged ecosystem where soil was left intact

First organisms to move into an area (typically lichens or moss)

Air pollution caused by the interaction of sunlight with pollutants from fossil fuels

Microscopic bits of dust, metal, and fuel

Produced by reactions of nitrogen oxide & oxygen

Chemicals from fossil fuel emissions dissolve into rain, causing this

The effect in which greenhouse gasses act like an insulator, slowing the loss of heat through the atmosphere

A species providing a sign of the quality of an ecosystem’s environmental conditions

Accumulation of toxins in the food chain

As pollutants move up the food chain, their concentration ______

When a barrier prevents an organism from accessing its entire range

An organism brought to an ecocystem by humans that harms the native species