Ecology Flashcards Chapter 1.

A biological community of organisms and their environment.

Example; lakes, deserts, oceans, tropical rain forest's

• An ecosystem that can stand drastic pressure
• (earthquakes, pollution, tornado's etc)

And can support lots of organisms

Example; our ecosystem supports humans as well as birds, insects, amphibians, and reptiles

All the living, or recently living attributes to an ecosystem

Example; plants, animals, fungi, micro-organisms

All the non living attributes to an ecosystem

Example; chemical nutrients, sun, soil, water, oxygen, food

The rigid part of the Earth's surface

Any source of water found on the earth's surface

Example; lakes, waterfalls, seas, ponds

All the gases above Earth's surface

Any place on the Earth's surface occupied for living organisms

Example; cities, towns, resorts, countries, forests

Elements that are essential to the growth of living organisms 

Example; calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium

When aquatic ecosystems have an excessive increase of nutrients, usually from land run off

Solar energy being turned into chemical energy is the process of photosynthesis

Organisms are categorized by the way they gain their energy by the trophic level

The total mass of a group of specific organisms in a specific area or group

The measure of biomass or energy as it moves up or down the tropic scale.

When a toxin or material ingested by one organism isn't eliminated as fast as it's ingested

The transfer materials and toxins from one organism to another as it moves up the trophic scale

The process of which the glucose from photosynthesis is broken down to use as energy, in the presence of oxygen

Like Cellular Respiration, fermentation is also a process in which energy is released but without the presence of oxygen

Gas in the atmosphere that changes the temperature of the Earth.

The insulating capacity of greenhouse gases

Any form of precipitation that is acidic because of the reaction from gases and water.