Eco-Vocab
Living parts of an ecosystem (e.g., animals, plants).
What is biotic?
This Canadian biome has the shortest growing season.
What is the tundra?
These organisms make their own food.
What are producers or autotrophs?
This kind of pollution happens when chemicals like pesticides enter waterways.
What is water pollution?
The gas plants take in during photosynthesis.
What is carbon dioxide?
The role an organism plays in an ecosystem.
What is a niche?
The variety of life in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
A consumer that eats only meat.
What is a carnivore?
A species that is at risk of disappearing from an area.
What is extirpated?
The process by which plants use sunlight to make food.
What is photosynthesis?
Organisms that break down dead matter and return nutrients to the soil.
What are decomposers?
One reason why high biodiversity is important.
What is resilience to change, ecosystem stability, or variety of resources?
The path of energy transfer from one organism to another.
What is a food chain?
One way humans reduce biodiversity.
What is pollution, deforestation, or urban sprawl?
This process releases carbon into the atmosphere from living things.
What is cellular respiration?
All the living organisms in an area interacting together.
What is a community?
Which biome covers most of Canada?
What is the boreal forest?
Which level has the least energy: producers or top predators?
What are top predators?
Why are invasive species a problem?
They outcompete native species and disrupt food webs.
A sustainable resource is one that...
What is can be used without running out or can be replenished naturally?
The maximum population size an environment can support.
What is carrying capacity?
One reason biodiversity might decrease in an area.
What is habitat loss, pollution, climate change, or invasive species?
Why do food chains usually have only 4–5 levels?
Because energy is lost at each level (as heat, movement, etc.)
This farming practice grows only one type of crop in a large area and can reduce biodiversity.
What is monoculture?
Describe one human action that disrupts the carbon cycle.
What is burning fossil fuels or deforestation?