Invasive Species
A species that enters a new habitat and causes ecological disruption or economic damage.
What is an invasive species?
The process by which plants capture sunlight and convert it into chemical energy (glucose).
What is photosynthesis?
The symbiotic relationship where both species benefit (example: clownfish and sea anemone).
What is mutualism?
The process where toxins become more concentrated in organisms at higher trophic levels.
What is biomagnification?
This biogeochemical cycle moves nitrogen between the atmosphere, soil, and living organisms.
What is the nitrogen cycle?
Two main human-related ways invasive species spread: accidental transport and deliberate introduction.
What are accidental transport and intentional introduction?
The primary energy source that drives almost all ecosystems on Earth.
What is the sun?
The symbiotic relationship where one species benefits and the other is unaffected (example: barnacles on a whale).
What is commensalism?
The chemical name often abbreviated as DDT, once widely used as a pesticide.
What is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane?
The process where nitrogen gas is converted into ammonia by bacteria.
What is nitrogen fixation?
Invasive species often thrive because they lack these natural enemies in the new ecosystem.
What are predators or natural controls?
The chemical process used by certain bacteria in deep-sea ecosystems to create energy without sunlight.
What is chemosynthesis?
The symbiotic relationship where one species benefits at the expense of another (example: ticks feeding on a dog).
What is parasitism?
As you move up the food chain, top predators consume prey with this many times the concentration of toxins compared to lower levels.
What is a much higher or magnified concentration?
The enzyme that helps break the strong triple bond in atmospheric nitrogen.
What is nitrogenase?
When invasive species dominate, they can lead native species to decline or go extinct due to competition or predation.
What is extinction or decline of native species?
Gross primary productivity refers to the total energy captured by producers, while this term refers to the leftover energy after respiration.
What is net primary productivity?
The term for the relationship between a predator and prey, influencing the evolution of both species.
What is coevolution or predator-prey relationship?
True or False: The visible damage from biomagnification is often more severe in top-level predators than in producers or herbivores.
What is True?
The biological process that converts ammonia into nitrites and nitrates usable by plants.
What is nitrification?
Invasive species can disrupt food webs by reducing biodiversity and altering predator-prey relationships.
What is ecosystem imbalance or biodiversity loss?
This term describes the percentage of energy passed on from one trophic level to the next in a food chain.
What is ecological efficiency?
The type of adaptation where an organism mimics another for protection (example: harmless snake mimicking a venomous one).
What is mimicry?
The process where pollutants like mercury or PCBs accumulate in the tissues of living organisms as they are passed up the food chain.
What is bioaccumulation leading to biomagnification?
The process where excess nitrogen from fertilizers runs off into water bodies, causing algal blooms and dead zones.
What is eutrophication?