Flashcards
Topic 2 - The Ecosystem - Key words
Cards in this deck (35)
- 1biospherethe part of the Earth inhabited by organisms
- 2ecosystema community of interdependent organisms and the physical environment they inhabit
- 3Bioticliving part of of an ecosystem (e.g the community)
- 4abioticthe non-living part of an ecosystem (e.g air, wind, temperature, water, soil, climate)
- 5producerplants etc.
- 6primary consumerherbivores
- 7secondary consumercarnivores
- 8tertiary consumertop carnivore
- 9trophic levelthe position that an organism occupies in a food chain
- 10pyramid of numbersrepresents the number of organisms in coexisting in an ecosystem
- 11pyramids of biomassrepresents the amount of biological mass at each trophic level
- 12speciesa group of organisms that interbreed and capable of producing fertile offspring
- 13populationa group of organisms of the same species living in the same ares at the same time with the capability of interbreeding
- 14communitya group of populations living and interacting with each other in a common habitat
- 15habitatthe environment in which a species normally lives
- 16nicheis a species' share of a habitat and resources - this is specific to the one specie
- 17mutualisman interaction in which both species benefit
- 18Parasitismrelationship where one organism - the parasite - benefits at the expense of another - the host
- 19dichotomous keysa methode used to identify organisms
- 20Biomea collection of ecosystems sharing similar climatic conditions
- 21photosynthesisthe process by which plants transform carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen in the presence of light energy and chlorophyl
- 22respirationthis is the release of energy from food in the form of breaking down glucose using oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide, water and energy
- 23Gross productivitythe total gain in energy or biomass per unit area or per unit time
- 24net productivitythe gain in energy or biomass per unit are or time, remaining after loss of respiratory losses
- 25primary productivitythe gain in energy or biomass per unit are or time by producers. could be gross or net
- 26secondary productivitythe gain in energy or biomass per unit are or time by consumers through feeding and absorption.
- 27limiting factorthey restrict the growth of a population or prevent it from growing any further
- 28carrying capacitythis is the maximum number of species that can be sustainably supported by a given environment.
- 29Density dependant factorsthese are limiting factors that are related to populations density. they are biotic factors. e.g and can be internal or external
- 30density-independant factorsthese are abiotic limiting factors therefore do not depend on population size
- 31K - strategistsspecies that produce and small number of offspring thus increasing their survival rate and adapting them for living in longterm climax communities
- 32r - strategistsspecies that tend produce a large number of offspring so that they are well adapted to colonise new habitats rapidly.
- 33successionthis is the process of change over time in a community. changes within organisms often cause changes in the physical environment thus allowing another community to become established replacing the former one through competition
- 34serethe set of communities that succeed one other over time over the course of succession at a given location
- 35Zonationthe arrangement of plants communities into parallel bands in response to change over distance - relates to climate and latitude or altitude
Information
- Description
- International Baccalaureate Environmental Systems & Societies (Topic 2 - The Ecosystem) Flashcards on Topic 2 - The Ecosystem - Key words, created by Sarah-Karolina V on 19/04/2014.
- Created by
- Sarah-Karolina V
- Views
- 190
- Tags
- Rating