BIOLOGY Vocab- Name : Adela, Ella Y W, Aidan, Savannah, Prarthana
ECOLOGY - The study of interactions between organisms and their environment
BIOSPHERE - All the ecosystems on the planets
SPECIES - One organism
POPULATION - Group of similar individual species
COMMUNITY - Group of the population living together - multiple species
ECOSYSTEM - The nonliving and living environment in a community lives
BIOME - A big region that’s characterized by a specific climate and specific kinds of plants
and animal communities
AUTOTROPHS (PRODUCERS) - An organism that produces its own food with water, light,
CO2, and more
organisms that make their own foods in their cells automatically
HETEROTROPHS (CONSUMERS) - an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy
and nutrients
PHOTOSYNTHESIS - The process of organisms and plants transforming light energy into
chemical energy
CHEMOSYNTHESIS - The process of food being made by bacteria or other living things that
use a chemical energy source
HERBIVORES - Consumers that only eat plants
CARNIVORES - Consumers that only eat other meat/other animals
OMNIVORES - Consumers that eat both plant and animal sou
DETRITIVORES - Organisms that break down and feed on decaying organisms
DECOMPOSERS - Consumer that breaks down the remain of dead or decaying organisms -
returns nutrients to the producer
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES: The movements of nutrients and other chemicals in an
ecosystem.
FOOD CHAIN: Diagram of the movement of energy through an ecosystem, from a producer
to an apex predator.
FOOD WEB: A system of food chains.
TROPHIC LEVEL: Hierarchical level of an animal within an ecosystem, based on how much
they are eaten and how much they consume (apex predator on top; no predators)
EVAPORATION: Process by which a liquid turns into a gaseous state.
TRANSPIRATION: The loss of water in the form of water vapor from a plant’s leaves, stem,
or flowers .
NUTRIENT: chemical substances that are needed for an organism to function.
RESOURCE: A substance or object in an ecosystem that is needed for the organism to
survive.
NITROGEN FIXATION: The bacterial process in which unusable nitrogen gas (N2) turns into
biologically available forms of nitrogen.
DENITRIFICATION: the process by which nitrate is converted to gaseous nitrogen by bacteria
in the soil.
COMBUSTION: When heat and light is given off in the presence of oxygen; when fuel is
burned to release energy.
LIMITING FACTOR: A factor that prevents a species from growing or decreasing in
population.
DENSITY DEPENDENT FACTOR: Any factors that impact a species’ population density;
whether in surplus or limitation.
DENSITY INDEPENDENT FACTOR: Any factor that affects the size of population density of a
species regardless of the original population size.
CARRYING CAPACITY: The maximum population size of a species based on factors like
resources and the environment as a whole.
EXPONENTIAL
TH
(J CURVE): Curve on a graph that represents the exponential growth in population.
LOGISTIC GROWTH (S CURVE): Curve on a graph representing when an ecosystem’s
resources are scarce and population density decreases until it reaches it’s carrying
capacity.
PREDATION: Process in which one organism (prey) is consumed by another (predator) for
energy.
SYMBIOSIS - The relationship between two species in an ecosystem.
MUTUALISM - This is when the symbiosis benefits both the species in
the cccccccccccccccccccccccccc relationship.
COMMENSALISM - This is when the symbiosis benefits one species and
dddddddddd doesn’t affect the other.
PARASITISM - This is when the symbiosis benefits one species and
--------------------- negatively affects the other.
RESOURCE PARTITIONING - This is when different species split up the food sources in their
ecosystems.
COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION - This is when two species have identical needs, this results in one
of the species being kicked out of the environment.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT - The greenhouse effect is when the atmosphere traps the sun's heat.
PRIMARY SUCCESSION - When species inhabit a previously uninhabited area
SECONDARY SUCCESSION - When a habitat regrows after a natural disaster, like a forest
fire.
DEATH RATE - The number of deaths within a certain period of time.
t
BIRTH RATE - The number of births within a certain period of time.
GROWTH RATE - The rate at which the population increases.
AGE STRUCTURE - The composition of an ecosystem population in terms of the age of the
organisms.
DISPERSION (AND THE THREE TYPES) - Moving of an organism from its birthplace to another
location, (uniform, random, and clumped)
NICHE - An organism's niche is their role in the ecosystem.
IMMIGRATION - The process of an organism(s) coming to new land.
EMIGRATION - The process of an organism(s) leaving old land.
TOLERANCE - plants surviving in a narrow range of salinity and humans surviving in a
narrow range of internal temperature
HIBERNATION - when an animal slows its heart rate to save energy and survive the winter
without eating much
DORMANCY - a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and physical
activity are temporarily stopped
PIONEER SPECIES - species that are the first to colonize newly created environments
CLIMAX COMMUNITY - a stage where an ecosystem reaches a stable state
BIOMASS: the weight or total quantity of living organisms of one animal or plant species of
a community; Usually referred to a unit area or volume of habitat.
BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION : the increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic
chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.
KEYSTONE SPECIES: an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem.
REGULATORS: A substance or process that regulates/ controls another.
CONFORMERS: Any organism whose internal environment is highly influenced by external
factors.
