keystone species
This term describes a species with a disproportionately large impact on its ecosystem
What is a keystone species
The first organism in a food chain; it makes its own food through photosynthesis.
What is a producer
The relationship in which one organism hunts and eats another
What is predation
The place where an organism lives—its “address.”
What is habitat
A relationship in which both species benefit.
What is mutualism
Sea otters are keystone species because they keep this spiny organism under control
What are sea urchins
Only about this percent of energy moves to the next trophic level.
What is 10%
A relationship where organisms compete for the same limited
What is competition
An organism’s role in its ecosystem—its “job.”
What is niche
A symbiosis where one benefits and the other is harmed.
What is parasitism
Removing a keystone species often decreases this, the variety of life in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity
These organisms break down dead matter and recycle nutrients.
What are decomposers
One organism benefits while the other is harmed but not killed outright.
What is parasitism
A desert, rainforest, or coral reef is an example of this “address.”
What is a habitat
One species benefits and the other is unaffected.
What is commensalism
This type of keystone species changes its environment physically, like beavers building dams.
What is an ecosystem engineer
In grass → mouse → snake → hawk, the snake is this level.
What is a secondary consumer
Two species help each other survive, like bees and flowers.
What is mutualism
An organism’s diet, behavior, and interactions describe this
What is its ecological role
Some acacia trees invest energy into growing hollow thorns that house a specific ant species. In return, the ants defend the tree from herbivores and even clear competing plants around it. This complex exchange is an example of this type of symbiotic relationship.
What is mutualism
Keystone Spicies:When this predator was removed from Yellowstone, elk overgrazed young trees, riverbanks eroded, and many other species suffered—showing how one organism can control the structure of an entire ecosystem.
What is a wolf
In many ecosystems, removing a single species from this level can cause a cascade of population changes both above and below it, demonstrating why energy transfer and species interactions are interconnected in food webs.
What is a Tertiary consumer
If two plants grow close together and one shades the other, reducing its ability to photosynthesize, this negative interaction between species is called what?
What is competition?
A frog may live in a pond, which provides water and shelter, but its role eating insects, hiding from predators, and reproducing defines this ecological concept, which is more than just where it lives.
What is its niche?
Clownfish live among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones. The fish gain protection, while the anemone gets cleaned and sometimes even food scraps. This type of mutually beneficial relationship is called what?
Mutualism