Vocabulary
Another name for a consumer.
What is a heterotroph?
These organisms are at the bottom of a food chain or web because they make the energy that transfers through trophic levels.
What are producers?
A global community of organisms characterized by climate conditions and plant life.
What is a biome?
The process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time.
What is succession?
Moisture, wind, sunlight, and soil are what type of factors in an environment?
What are abiotic factors?
A diagram that shows ALL the possible feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
What is a food web?
Organisms that are herbivores are called ______________ consumers.
What is primary?
A group of different species that live together in one area.
What is a community?
Succession that occurs in areas where an existing community is disrupted but the soil remains intact.
What is secondary succession?
Organisms, such as most humans, that obtain their nutrients from both plants and animals.
What are omnivores?
The position an organism occupies in a food chain.
What is a trophic level?
In the following food chain, the hawk is a _________ consumer: grass-->grasshopper-->snake-->hawk
What is tertiary?
Any abiotic or biotic factor that restricts the existence, numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.
What is a limiting factor?
The first organisms to colonize an ecosystem.
What are pioneer species?
The study of the relationships among organisms and their environment.
What is ecology?
An organism that breaks down waste and dead organisms.
What is a decomposer?
Organisms that eat mainly animal flesh to obtain nutrients.
What are carnivores?
A sea otter is an example of a ___________ because it has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem.
What is a keystone species?
__________ succession would occur on a new island formed by a volcanic eruption.
What is primary?
What are the two typical pioneer species in primary succession?
What are lichens and mosses?
A series of events that shows the transfer of energy between organisms in an ecosystem.
What is a food chain?
Organisms that obtain their nutrients consuming dead organisms.
What are scavengers?
The level of organization that includes all living organisms as well as the nonliving factors such as rocks and soil.
What is an ecosystem?
The end result of succession where the community has stabilized and remains in equilibrium.
What is the climax community?
A group of organisms that are physically similar and can mate with each other and produce fertile offspring.
What is a species?