Vocabulary
The study of how living things are related to one another and their environment.
What is Ecology?
This is the type of relationship that exists between a salmon and a bear.
What is a predator/prey relationship?
The wetlands we visited on our field trip are an example of this type of biome.
What is a freshwater biome?
This type of organism helps break down dead material and turn it into nutrient-rich soil.
What is a decomposer?
The first organisms to inhabit land that has been newly created.
What is a pioneer species?
Any living component, such as grass, plants, trees, animals, humans, and bacteria, that impacts other living things and an ecosystem.
What is a Biotic Factor?
An example of this type of relationship is a human and a mosquito: one is harmed while the other benefits.
What is parasitism?
This biome is generally hot and dry, though cold ones exist. There is little precipitation and you might find lizards here.
What is a desert biome?
These organisms are typically herbivores.
What is a primary consumer?
A volcanic eruption that pours lava down to the ocean where it hardens and cools at the surface is an example of this type of ecological succession.
What is primary succession?
All the populations of all the biotic species that live in a specific area.
What is a community?
An example of this type of relationship is a flower and a bee: both organisms benefit.
What is mutualism?
An estuary, an ocean, and a coral reef are types of this biome.
What is a marine biome?
This is what happens to the amount of energy at each level as you move up an energy pyramid.
What is it decreases?
A landslide buried all the vegetation and life in Oso, Washington ten years ago. New grass started growing out of the mud.
What is secondary succession?
The position of a living thing in a food web based on how and what it eats.
What is a Trophic Level?
An example of this type of relationship is an owl and a tree: one benefits while the other is unaffected.
What is Commensalism?
There are three types of this biome and, depending on the type, the temperature can range from moderate to hot and precipitation can vary from little to heavy.
What is a forest biome?
This term means "of or relating to nutrition." Organisms above are nourished by organisms below.
What is a Trophic Level?
A fully thriving ecosystem that has reached its full potential.
What is a Climax Community?
A relationship between two living organisms in which at least one organism benefits.
This is the term for the relationship between two different species that are competing for resources in the same habitat.
This biome is typically cold and it gets little precipitation. You would find permafrost here.
What is a Tundra?
These tools allow scientists to evaluate the transfer of energy in a given ecosystem. There are three basic types.
What is an energy pyramid?
This word means "to follow" and refers here to the process of change that occurs over time to the living organisms in a given area.
What is "succession"?