Ecology Vocab!
A community of organisms interacting with their environment.
Ecosystem
In a food chain, what do the arrows show?
The direction of energy flow.
What is population density?
The number of organisms in a specific area.
A remora riding on a shark is what type of symbiosis?
Commensalism
Which cycle includes evaporation, condensation, and precipitation?
Water cycle.
What is the smallest level of ecological organization?
Organism
What type of organism gets energy by making its own food?
Producers - also known as Autotrophs
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum population an environment can support.
A tapeworm inside a dog is what interaction?
Parasitism
What gas is released when fossil fuels are burned?
Carbon dioxide (CO₂).
What is ecology the study of?
How organisms interact with each other and their environment.
What percent of energy moves from one trophic level to the next?
10%
What happens when a population reaches carrying capacity?
Growth levels off and stabilizes. (An "S" curve shown by logistic growth)
What is predation?
One organism kills and eats another.
What is one major way humans harm ecosystems?
Examples: pollution, habitat loss, climate change, invasive species.
Name one abiotic factor.
Examples: water, sunlight, soil, temperature.
Which level of a food pyramid has the most energy?
Producers
A population grows from 20 to 80 organisms in one year. Is this exponential or logistic growth?
Exponential
Bees pollinating flowers is an example of what?
Mutualism (also coevolution).
How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle?
Fewer trees means less CO₂ is taken in during photosynthesis, increasing atmospheric CO₂ and contributing to climate change.
What is biodiversity?
The number and variety of species in an area.
If mice disappeared from a food web, what would happen to organisms that depend on them?
Their populations would decrease.
What things have to be the same for populations to remain stable?
When birth and death rates are about the same, keeping population size stable.
How can the removal of a predator from an ecosystem lead to a trophic cascade?
Removing a predator allows prey populations to increase, which can reduce vegetation or other resources and disrupt the entire ecosystem.
Name one action humans can take to restore ecosystem health.
Renewable energy, habitat restoration, recycling, invasive species control.