Factors
The non-living, physical factors that influence the organisms and ecosystem — such as temperature, sunlight, pH, salinity, and precipitation.
Abiotic Factors
Habitat A habitat is the environment in which a species normally lives
Habitat
A group of organisms that share common characteristics and that interbreed to produce fertile offspring
Species
in most ecosystems convert light energy into chemical energy in the process of photosynthesis
primary producers
species are those that produce large numbers of offspring so they can colonize new habitats quickly and make use of short-lived resources
r-strategist
using oxygen
Aerobic
the position that an organism occupies in a food chain, or the position of a group of organisms in a community that occupy the same position in food chains.
trophic level
a group of populations living and interacting with each other in a common habitat
community
Symbiotic relationship in which one species is benefited and the other is adversely affected
Parasitism
the average of the weather over a relatively longer period of time, usually about 30 years of data is required to give the climate of an area.
climate
The interactions between the organisms— such as predation, herbivory, parasitism, mutualism, disease, and competition.
Biotic Factors
describes the particular set of abiotic and biotic conditions and resources to which an organism or population responds
Niche
Feeds on dead and decaying material, thus recycling the nutrients.
Decomposer
This is the interaction between organisms that are trying to attain the same resources. This might be food but it could also be for mates, territory, nesting sites, etc.
Competition
the increase in concentration of persistent or non-biodegradable pollutants along a food chain.
Biomagnification
Limiting factors related to how densely packed a population is, e.g. competition
Densitydependent Limiting Factors
a community and the physical environment with which it interacts.
ecosystem
The maximum population size that a given area can support sustainably.
Carrying Capacity
Symbiotic relationship in which both partners benefit
Mutualism
the build-up of persistent or nonbiodegradable pollutants within an organism or trophic level because they cannot be broken down
Bioaccumulation
Limiting factors unrelated to population density such as natural disasters and weather change.
Densityindependent Limiting Factors
a set of alternative stable states for a given ecosystem. These depend on the climatic factors, the properties of the local soil and a range of random events that can occur over time.
climax community
Zonation Zonation refers to changes in a community along an environmental gradient due to factors such as changes in altitude, latitude, tidal level or distance from shore (coverage by water).
Zonation
A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other one is neither harmed nor helped
Commensalism
the conversion of nitrogen containing compounds into Nitrogen gas. This happens in water logged soil by anaerobic bacteria
denitrification