NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT

ECOSYSTEM:
The network of interactions that link together the living and non-living parts of an environment.
POPULATION:
The totality of a closely related number of individual organisms that belong to the same species and live in the same
geographical area and interact with each other through sexual (or asexual for bacteria) reproduction.
MIGRATION:
When living organisms move from one biome to another. It can also describe geographic population shifts within nations
and across borders.
RENEWABLE RESOURCES:
supplies of biological organisms that can be replaced after harvesting by regrowth or reproduction of the removed
species! such as seafood or timber.
NON-RENEWABLE:
something that cannot be replaced once it is used or that may take many hundreds of years to be replaced.
FOSSIL FUELS:
"fuel formed over millions of years from compression of the decayed remains of living matter coal, oil, and natural gas are
fossil fuels.
EQUILIBRIUM:
condition where structures or systems are in complete balance. A state of rest or balance in which all
opposing forces are equal
LIFE CYCLE:
All the stages in the life of a plant or animal organism! between life and death.
CONSUMPTION:
The amount of resources or energy used by a household.
CONSERVATION:
Preserving and carefully managing natural resources so that they can be used by present and future generations. We
conserve resources by using them more efficiently with minimum waste
BIODEGRADABLE:
Material that is able to bebroken down or decomposed by natural processes into simpler compounds. Natural processes
include exposure to sun! water! and air
FOOD CHAIN:
A method for describing how food energy passes from organism to organism. The description establishes a hierarchy
of organisms where each feeds on those below and is the source of food for those above.
HERBIVORES:
An animal that eats only plants.
DETRIVORE:
An organism that feeds on large bits of dead and decaying plant and animal matter. "or example!
earthworms! dung beetles! and wolverines are detrivores.
CARNIVORE:
A consumer that eats other animals. "or example! wolves and orca are carnivores.
DECOMPOSER:
An organism that breaks down (decomposes) dead or waste materials! such as rotting wood! dead animals!
or animal waste and returns important nutrients to the environment.
CONSUMER:
An organism! such as an animal! that must obtain its food by eating other organisms in its environment*
can be a herbivore! carnivore! or omnivore.
SCAVENGER
$ny animal that preys on food predators have killed! or food recently discarded.
PRODUCER:
An organism that creates its own food rather than eating other organisms to obtain food*for example! a
plant.
PREY:
An organism that is hunted by a predator.
PREDATOR:
An organism that hunts another living thing for food.
OMNIVORE:
An animal that eats both plants and animals.
NICHE:
The way that an organism 'ts into an ecosystem! in terms of where it lives! how it obtains itsfood! and how it interacts with
other organisms.
BIOMES:
Large regions of earth where temperature and precipitation are distinct and certain types of plants and animals are found.
H A B I TA T
The place where an animal or a plant naturally lives or grows and that provides it with everything it needs to grow.
ESTUARY:
The region where a river flows into the ocean and fresh river water mixes with saltwater.
LOCAL ENVIRONMENT:
All the influence and conditions in which organisms live! including the actual place!
circumstances! soil! water! air! and climate that surround and affect plants and animals in a particular area! and which
determine their form and survival.
ADAPTATION:
The physical characteristic! or behaviour trait that helps an organism survive in its local environment.
SUCCESSION:
A fundamental concept in ecology that refers to the more or less predictable and orderly changes in the
composition or structure of an ecological community
BIOMASS:
An ecology term for the total mass of living organisms in a certain area.
CELL:
A microscopic structure that is the basic unit of all living things. organisms can be made of as little as one
cell (some types of bacteria) or as many as several trillion cells (human beings).
PHOTOSYNTHESIS:
A process in green plants and some bacteria during which light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll-containing
molecules and converted to chemical energy (the light reaction).during the process! carbon dioxide is reduced and combined
with other chemical elements to provide the organic intermediates that form plant biomass (the dark reaction). 0reen plants
release molecular oxygen(12)! which they derive from water during the light reaction.
CHLOROPHYLL:
A green pigment found in chloroplasts that gives plants green colour. It captures sunlight used for
photosynthesis.
CHLOROPLAST:
A plant cell structure containing chlorophyll! found in all green plant
INVERTEBRATE:
An animal that does not have a backbone or spinal column. ,xamples ofinvertebrates include insects! worms!
and crabs.
AMPHIBIAN:
A class of vertebrates that is born in water and lives both in water and on land. Amphibians begin life in
water with gills* later! they develop lungs and legs so they can walk on land as adults. ,examples include
frogs! toads! and salamanders.
COLOURATION:
An adaptation of an organism3s colour to help it survive in its environment. Mimicry and camouflage are
examples of colouration.
CAMOUFLAGE:
The colouring of an animal that allows it to blend into its environment to survive better.
MIMICRY:
volving to appear similar to another successful species or to the environment in order to dupe predators into avoiding the
mimic! or dupe prey into approaching the mimic.
CONDENSATION:
When a substance changes state from a gas to a liquid.
SUBLIME:
occurs when a substance changes directly from a solid to a gas without becoming liquid
OXYGEN:
A colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that is the most plentiful element in the earths crust. It was
discovered in 5662 by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
FREEZING POINT:
The temperature at which a liquid becomes a solid. Increased pressure usually raises the free7ing point.
ABSOLUTE ZERO:
The lowest theoretical temperature where all the molecular activities cease to continue. The absolute temperature is 189 -
26:.5;<#
OZONE:
A triatomic molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms. 0round-level o7one is an air pollutant with
harmful effects on the respiratory systems of animals. n the other hand! o7one in the upper atmosphere protects living
organisms by preventing damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the ,arth4ssurface.
ACID RAIN:

Rainfall with a greater acidity than normal.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT:
An increase in temperature caused when the atmosphere absorbsincoming solar radiation but blocks outgoing
thermal radiation* carbon dioxide is the ma>or factor.
GREENHOUSE GASES:

$tmospheric gases or vapours that absorb outgoing infrared energy emittedfrom the ,arth naturally or as a
result of human activities. 0reenhouse gases are components of theatmosphere that contribute to the 0reenhouse effect.
SUSTAINABILITY:
The ability of ecosystems to bear the impact of the human population over a longperiod of time! through the replacement
of resources and the recycling of waste