Ecology Basics
What is the physical place where an organism lives?
What is a habitat?
All of the same species in an area is called a ________.
What is a population?
The organism that hunts and eats another is the ________.
What is the predator?
What is blending in with the background called?
What is camouflage?
What do we call a close relationship between two species?
What is symbiosis?
What is an organism’s role or way of life in an ecosystem?
What is a niche?
Give one example of a limiting factor.
What is food, water, predators, space, disease, weather, etc.
The organism that gets killed and eaten is the ________.
What is the prey?
Bright colors that say “don’t eat me!” are called ________.
What is warning coloring?
In which type of symbiosis do both organisms benefit?
What is mutualism?
When organisms fight for the same limited resources, what is this called?
What is competition?
What are limiting factors?
What prevents a population from getting too large.
What is the relationship called where one organism kills and eats another?
What is predation?
When a harmless species looks like a harmful one, what is this?
What is mimicry?
In which type does one organism benefit and the other is not helped or harmed?
What is commensalism?
What rule states that two species competing for the same resource cannot both survive long-term?
What is competitive exclusion?
What is the maximum population size an environment can support?
What is carrying capacity?
If the prey population drops, what usually happens to the predator population?
It decreases.
A shell or thick skin is an example of what type of defense?
What is a protective covering?
In which type does one organism benefit while the other is harmed?
What is parasitism?
What do we call a species that is not native and can grow out of control in a new environment?
What is an invasive species?
Name three limiting factors.
Any valid three: predators, space, water, sunlight, pollution, oxygen, disease, natural disasters, etc.
Explain why predator populations cannot continue increasing forever.
Because limiting factors like food availability stop growth.
What is false coloring?
Colors or patterns that make an organism look bigger or scarier.
What is the organism harmed by the parasite called?
What is the host?