Introduction to Ecology
the study of how living organisms interact with each other and with their environment.
What is Ecology?
A sudden removal of a keystone species would most directly disrupt this level of organization.
What is a community?
This is the original source of energy for nearly all ecosystems on Earth.
What is energy?
This is the main source of energy for most ecosystems.
What is the Sun?
This ecosystem has many trees and receives moderate to high rainfall.
What is a forest ecosystem?
a large community of plants and animals that live in the same place
What is a biome?
This adaptation helps prey avoid being eaten by blending into their environment.
What is camouflage?
These organisms make their own food using light energy and form the base of most food webs.
What are producers?
An animal that eats only plants is called this.
What is a herbivore?
This ecosystem receives very little rainfall and has extreme temperatures.
What is a desert ecosystem?
These two categories describe the living and nonliving components organisms interact with in their environment.
What is abiotic and biotic factors?
This includes all living and nonliving components interacting in a given area.
What is an ecosystem?
Organisms that break down dead matter and waste, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem, are known by this term.
What are decomposers?
This group of organisms includes algae and plants that can perform photosynthesis.
What are producers (autotrophs)?
What are producers (autotrophs)?
This ecosystem includes oceans, lakes, and rivers.
What is an aquatic ecosystem?
This is the maximum number of individuals an environment can sustainably support.
What is carrying capacity?
This term describes an organism’s role, including how it obtains food, interacts, and survives in its environment.
What is a niche?
This process converts light energy into chemical energy stored in glucose.
What is photosynthesis?
Only about this percentage of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
What is 10%?
This ecosystem is dominated by grasses and has few trees.
What is a grassland ecosystem?
This type of growth occurs when resources are unlimited, resulting in a J-shaped curve.
What is exponential growth?
This term refers to the physical place where an organism lives.
What is a habitat?
This linear model shows a single pathway of energy flow from producer to top predator.
What is a food chain?
In the carbon cycle, this process releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when organisms break down glucose for energy.
What is cellular respiration?
This cold ecosystem has permafrost and very few trees.
What is a tundra?