s
This is the study of the interactions between living and nonliving things
ecology
A group of populations living and interacting in the same area
community
a group of ecosystems classified by climate and plant life
biome
an association of living organisms and their physical environment
ecosystems
the sum of all of Earth's ecosystems in land, water, or air
biosphere
*WORTH 750 points* In the water cycle - more water evaporates from the ocean than falls back into the ocean in the form of rain. Why doesn't the ocean lose water?
here's the short answer: excess water from the land replenishes the water in the ocean. (page 97)
scientists who study ecology
ecologists
a unit of one or more populations of individuals that can reproduce under normal conditions, produce fertile offspring, and are reproductively isolated from other such units
species
any living part of an environment
biotic factors
the nonliving physical and chemical conditions affecting organisms
abiotic factors
an organism that eats producers
primary consumer.
(ex: herbivores)
a group of interbreeding organisms coexisting together
population
organisms that produce their own food
producers
ex: autotrophs
organisms that eat living producers and/or other consumers for food
consumers
organisms that break down the dead remains of other organisms
decomposers
an organism that eats primary consumers
secondary consumer
ex: some carnivores
*worth 1000* Light shining on the Earth from the sun warms up the planet; however; the Earth tends to radiate a lot of that light back out into space - which cools the planet. If that was all there was too it; the Earth would be a very cold place. What causes the Earth to retain enough warmth so that life can exist? And how does this process retain the heat.
The Greenhouse Effect - the process by which certain gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) trap heat that woudl otherwise escape the earth and radiate into space.
an organism that eats secondary consumers
tertiary consumer
ex: carnivores that eat other carnivores)
quarternary consumers are organisms that eat this type of consumer
tertiary consumer
a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
Food chain
this links all the food chains in an ecosystem together and is used to provide a more accurate description of the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem
Food web
each step (or level) of the food chain or food web is called this
trophic level
name 4 of the 6 levels of ecological organizations
biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community, population, organism
Name the key abiotic factors that affect ecosystems
sunlight, water, temperature, soil, wind, and natural disturbances (fire, hurricanes, droughts, floods)
Trophic levels track this as it moves through the ecosystem
energy
*energy ususally comes through the sun; producers convert that energy into chemical energy and store it in bonds of organic compounds; when producers eaten by primary consumers, some of that energy is moved to the next trophic level.
a measure of the total amount of living tissue of organisms within a trophic level
biomass
ecological pyramids show this
the amount of energy or matter at each trophic level in an ecosystem