Transcript Biosphere Vocab - local.brookings.k12.sd.us

BIOSPHERE
Chapter 3
VOCAB ONLY
http://educ.queensu.ca/~fmc/august2004/pages/dinobreath.html
Symbiotic relationship in which one
organism benefits by living on or
inside another which is harmed
parasitism
Principle that states no 2 organisms
can occupy the same niche in the same
habitat at the same time.
Competitive exclusion principle
Symbiotic relationship in which
both organisms benefit from their close
association
mutualism
An “organism’s job” that includes what it eats,
what eats it, where in the habitat it lives, how it
acts, and when & how it reproduces?
niche
Symbiotic relationship in which one
organism benefits but the other is
neither harmed nor helped
commensalism
The scientific study of interactions
between organisms and between
organisms and their environment
ecology
The portion of the Earth in which
all life exists
biosphere
Organism that captures and eats
another
predator
Group of organisms so similar that they
can breed and produce fertile offspring
species
An organism that is captured and
eaten by another
prey
A group of individuals that belong to the
same species that live together in an area
population
Another name for heterotrophs
consumers
Group of different populations
that live together in an area
community
All the living things an ecosystem
that an organism might interact with
Biotic factors
All the organisms that live in a place
PLUS their non-living environment
ecosystem
Another name for autotrophs
producers
Organisms that can make their own food
using energy from sunlight or chemical
bonds in inorganic compounds
autotrophs or producers
All the non-living things such as
climate, temperature, weather,
soil type, or sunlight in an
ecosystem that impact an organism
Abiotic factors
Organism that can’t make its own
food and get energy from
consuming other organisms
heterotrophs or consumers
Any relationship in which two species
live closely together
symbiosis
Rate at which organic matter is
created by producers
Primary productivity
Chemical substance organisms need
to sustain life
nutrient
Process in which green plants use
energy from sunlight to produce
carbohydrates
photosynthesis
A living thing
organism
Process in which some bacteria use
energy stored in the chemical bonds
of inorganic compounds to make
carbohydrates in the absence of light
chemosynthesis
Series of steps in which organisms
transfer energy through an ecosystem
by eating and being eaten
Food chain
Interaction in which one organism
captures and feeds on another.
predation
Network of complex interactions
linking all the food chains in an
ecosystem food web
Organism that eats only plants
herbivore
Process in which elements, chemical
compounds, and other forms of matter
are passed from part of the biosphere
to another
Biogeochemical cycle
Organism that eats only meat
carnivore
Process in which liquid water
changes into a gas
evaporation
Organism that eats both plants and
meat
omnivore
Process in which water from plant
leaves evaporates into the atmosphere
transpiration
Organism such as mites, snail,
earthworms, or crabs that eat dead
plants or animals
detritivore
Process in which bacteria in soil
convert nitrogen gas into ammonia
Nitrogen fixation
Organism such as bacteria or fungi
that break down organic matter
decomposers
Each step in a food chain or web
trophic level
Process in which bacteria covert nitrates into
nitrogen gas and released into atmosphere
denitrification
Nutrient which is scare or cycles slowly
that controls population growth
Limiting nutrient
Any necessity for life such as
water, food, light, or space
resource
Relationship in which organisms
attempt to use the same resource
at the same time and place
competition