Human Interactions within the Ecosystem
Activities like hiking, camping, and boating can harm plants and disturb wildlife. To avoid this, how should humans enjoy nature?
What is responsible recreational activity?
This type of relationship occurs when one organism hunts and kills another for food.
What is predation?
This is the impact on population growth when a resource such as water becomes limited in an ecosystem.
What is a decrease in population size?
This type of organism, which gets energy from the sun, forms the foundation of all food webs.
What is a producer?
This happens when a change in an ecosystem disrupts the balance of predator and prey relationships, leading to population shifts.
What is population imbalance?
This human-made pollutant comes from factories and cars and harms plants and animals.
What is air pollution?
In this type of relationship, both species benefit, such as bees pollinating flowers while gathering nectar.
What is competition?
When this resource is scarce, populations may struggle to survive, especially in dry ecosystems like Utah's deserts.
What is water?
These organisms consume producers or other consumers to obtain energy.
What is a consumer?
When this factor changes, such as an increase in temperature, it can disrupt ecosystems and lead to changes in species populations.
What is climate?
This human activity involves cutting down trees and can harm ecosystems and animals living in forests.
What is deforestation?
This occurs when organisms compete for limited resources like food, water, and space.
What is competition?
This resource is necessary for growth and reproduction and often influences the carrying capacity of a population in an ecosystem.
What is food?
These organisms break down dead matter and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
What is a decomposer?
These types of disturbances, like fires or floods, can temporarily alter an ecosystem, but organisms adapt and populations recover.
What is natural disturbances?
This type of farming can reduce biodiversity by replacing natural habitats with large crops.
What is large scale farming?
In this type of relationship, two species live in close contact, often benefiting one or both of them, like oxpeckers and buffalo.
What is symbiosis?
A decrease in this resource can limit the area in which a species can live, resulting in population decline.
What is habitat or living space?
This process, carried out by plants, involves turning sunlight into chemical energy for food.
What is photosynthesis?
A new species introduced to an ecosystem can compete with native species, sometimes leading to the decline of the native population.
What is an invasive species?
This natural feature acts as a filter, removing pollutants from water before it reaches rivers and lakes, helping provide cleaner water for human consumption, reduce flooding, and provide homes for many animals such as fish and birds.
What are wetlands?
This type of interaction occurs when one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it, such as a tick on a dog.
What is parasitism?
This is term for the maximum number of individuals an ecosystem can support based on resources.
What is carrying capacity?
The movement of energy from producers through consumers to decomposers can be represented by this model.
What is a food web?
In some ecosystems, the introduction of a new food source or predator can significantly change the population sizes of other species.
What is an ecosystem shift?