Biodiversity
What is biodiversity?
the variety of all living things on Earth, including plants, animals, and tiny organisms like bacteria, and how they interact with each other in different ecosystems, like forests, oceans, or deserts
What is a symbiotic relationship?
a close interaction between two different species where at least one organism benefits
What is Competition?
when two organisms compete for the same limited resource
What is a food chain?
a linear sequence of organisms that shows the transfer of energy and nutrients from one organism to another
What are the three main threats to biodiversity?
What are the types of symbiotic relationships?
Mutualism Commensalism Parasitism
Competition Predator/prey
What is predator/prey?
one species survives on consuming the other species
lions that hunt and eat zebras
What is a food web?
a representation of feeding relationships in an ecosystem, made up of multiple interconnected food chains
What is habitat loss?
when a habitat is destroyed such deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest - plants and trees are destroyed and animals lose their homes
What is Mutualism?
Both organisms benefit from the relationship, like a bee getting nectar from a flower while pollinating it
What does carrying capacity mean?
the maximum number of organisms or populations an ecosystem can support
What are the characteristics of the food chain?
a linear sequence of organisms
follows a single path - who eats whom
less flexible, disruption can have a large impact
grass-> deer -> wolf
What is an invasive specie?
a plant or animal that is not naturally found in a certain area, but has been introduced there by humans, and then starts to grow and spread rapidly, causing harm to the local ecosystem by outcompeting native species for food and space, often disrupting the balance of nature
like kudzu
What is Commensalism?
One organism benefits while the other is not affected, like barnacles attaching to a whale to get a free ride
What is an ecosystem?
a community of living things (like plants and animals) in a particular area, along with their non-living environment (like rocks, water, and sunlight), where all the elements interact with each other and depend on one another to survive
What are the characteristics of the food web?
network of interrelated food chains
shows multiple feeding relationships
more flexible, alternative food sources exist
grass-> deer, rabbit
deer, rabbit -> deer, wolf
What is climate change?
when the changes in weather and climate alter environments and impact a species' ability to survive such as long droughts that cause people to migrate (move) to other parts of the world
What is Parasitism?
One organism (parasite) benefits by harming another organism (host), like a tick feeding on a dog's blood