Energy flows and food webs
What is an Autotroph
An organism that produces its own food using sunlight or chemical energy.
What is Mutualism?
A symbiotic relationship where both species benefit, such as a bee and a flower.
What is Carrying Capacity?
The maximum number of individuals of a particular species that a particular environment can support.
What is the 10% Rule?
This rule states that only about this percentage of energy is passed from one trophic level to the next.
What is Commensalism?
A relationship where one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
What are Abiotic Factors?
Non-living factors in an environment, such as sunlight, temperature, and water.
What are Decomposers?
Organisms like fungi and bacteria that break down dead organic matter, returning nutrients to the soil.
What is a Keystone Species?
A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its ecosystem if removed, the ecosystem often collapses.
What are Density-Dependent Factors?
Factors like disease or competition that affect a population more strongly as the population density increases.
What is a Food Web
A complex network of interconnecting food chains that shows the various paths energy takes through an ecosystem.
What is an Ecological Niche?
The specific role or job an organism has in its environment, including what it eats and where it lives.
What is Demography?
The study of the human population, including statistics like birth rates, death rates, and age structure.
What is Biomass?
The total mass of living organisms within a given area or trophic level.
What is Primary Succession?
This type of succession begins in an area with no remains of an older community, such as on bare rock after a volcanic eruption
What is a Community
A group of different populations that live together in a defined area.