Vocab 1
What is a Biome?
A large naturally occurring community of plants and animals that occupy a major habitat
What is a Population?
Group of individuals of similar type living in a given area
What is Population Density?
How closely members of the same type of living organism live together
What are Invasive Species?
Species that are not native to a given area
What is Mortality?
How fast or how many members of a species die in a given time
What is Biomass?
Total amount of living and once living materials in an area
What is Biodiversity?
Measure of the number of different types of organisms that live in a given area
What is Cellular Respiration?
Whe living things take in oxygen and combine it with sugars to get out the energy and produce carbon dioxide and water
What is a Niche?
The role that a given organism has in an ecosystem
What is Natality?
How fast or how many members of a species are born in a given time
What is the Benthic Zone
The floor of a body of water
What is the Abyssal Zone?
Ecological realm consisting of the deep sea, lacking plant life because of the absence of light
What is Photosynthesis?
When plants use energy from the sun along with carbon dioxide and water to form sugars and release oxygen
What is Denitrification?
When nitrogen returns back to the atmosphere and destroys the useful nitrates
What are Limiting Resources?
Things that are needed by a population that are in limited supply
What is the Littoral Zone?
The grassy, reedy, marshy perimeter along the banks of our water systems.
What is the Pelagic Zone?
Ecological realm that includes the entire ocean water column
What is Nitrogen Fixation?
The process that combines nitrogen with oxygen in nature
What is Immigration?
How fast or how many members of a species move into a given area in a given time
What is a Carrying Capacity?
The size of a population that a given ecosystem can support in a stable manner
What is the Limnetic Zone?
The open and well-lit area of a freestanding body of water
What is Biotic Potential?
The maximum rate that a population can grow under idea conditions
What is Emigration?
How fast or how many members of a species move out of a given area in a given time
What are Density Dependent Factors?
Factors that are influenced by the population density in an area
What are Density Independent Factors?
Factors that will change a population whether the population density is high or low