Ecology Vocabulary

Vocabulary / Definitions

• Ecology is the study of living things interacting within their environment; for instance, how wolves impact deer populations
• Stewardship refers to responsible environmental care, such as planting trees or cleaning rivers
• Sustainability involves using resources in a way that preserves them for future use; using solar panels instead of burning fossil fuels
• Biodiversity describes the variety of different species that live in a specific area, like a rainforest
• An ecosystem comprises a community of both living and non-living elements interacting, such as a pond with fish, algae, water, and rocks
• Biosphere refers to all life found on Earth, encompassing forests, oceans, and deserts
• Atmosphere is the layer of gases (oxygen, CO2) surrounding Earth which is the air we breathe
• Lithosphere refers to the land part of Earth consisting of rocks and soil, such as mountains and deserts
• Hydrosphere refers to all water on Earth, including oceans, lakes, and streams

Levels of Organization

• An individual is defined as a single organism, for example, a single deer
• A population is a group of the same species living together, like a herd of deer
• A community includes different species living together, such as deer, wolves, and trees in a forest
• An Ecosystem is a community interacting with abiotic factors, like the forest ecosystem = animals, plants, soil, water
• A Biome is a large area characterized by similar climate and ecosystems, for example, the tundra biome (cold, few trees)
• The Biosphere includes all ecosystems on Earth; which is the entire planet

Types of Ecosystems

• Natural ecosystems develop without human intervention; forests as well as coral reefs form without human influence
• Artificial ecosystems are made or maintained by humans, such as farms and aquariums
• Terrestrial ecosystems are land-based, such as deserts and rainforests
• Aquatic ecosystems are water-based, such as lakes and oceans

Types of Biomes

• Terrestrial biomes are land-based, for example, deserts, tundra, and rainforests
• Aquatic biomes are water-based, for example, freshwater (lakes) and marine (oceans)

Parts of an Ecosystem

• Abiotic factors are the non-living components of the environment, including sunlight, temperature, and water
• Biotic factors are the living components of the environment, including plants, animals, and fungi
• Biotic subdivisions: Producers (autotrophs) that create their own food through photosynthesis; for example, trees and grass
• Consumers (heterotrophs) get their energy by consuming other organisms, for example, deer are herbivores and wolves are carnivores
• Herbivores consume plants, like rabbits
• Carnivores consume animals, like lions
• Omnivores consume both plants and animals, for example, bears
• Scavengers consume dead animals, like vultures
• Decomposers break down dead organisms, such as fungi and bacteria
• Detritivores consume small pieces of dead matter, such as earthworms

Habitat vs. Niche

• A habitat is where an organism lives, for example, a river for a fish
• A niche is an organism's role and how it survives, for example, bees pollinating flowers and making honey

Biotic Interactions

• Competition occurs when organisms compete for limited resources, for example, lions competing for prey
• Predation occurs when one organism hunts and kills another, for example, a wolf hunts a deer
• Symbiosis includes
• Mutualism, where both species benefit, for example, bees and flowers
• Commensalism, where one benefits and the other is unaffected, for example, a bird nesting in a tree
• Parasitism, where one benefits and the other is harmed, for example, a tick on a dog
• Invasive species: Non-native species that cause harm, for example, Zebra mussels in Canada

Food Chains and Food Webs

• A food chain illustrates a simple energy path, for example, grass → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk
• A food web consists of many interconnected food chains, for example, a lake ecosystem web
• Trophic levels are the positions in a food chain, where grass is a producer and the rabbit is a primary consumer
• An energy pyramid shows energy loss at each trophic level, where 10,000 J at the producer level becomes 1,000 J at the herbivore and 100 J at the carnivore level
• An inverted pyramid occurs when producers are tiny but numerous, like plankton

Graph Interpretation

• A prey-predator graph shows population cycles between prey and predators, for example, the rabbit population rises, and then the fox population rises later

Carrying Capacity and Limiting Factors

• Carrying capacity is the maximum population an environment can sustain, for example, a forest supporting 500 deer
• Limiting factors are elements that restrict population growth, such as lack of food or disease outbreaks

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification

• Bioaccumulation involves toxins building up inside a single organism, such as mercury in a fish
• Biomagnification involves toxins increasing as you move up the food chain; where eagles consume highly contaminated fish.

Nutrient Cycles

• Carbon cycle:
• Photosynthesis: Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen
• Consumption: Animals consume plants and absorb carbon
• Respiration: Organisms release carbon dioxide
• Decomposition: Dead organisms release carbon into the soil
• Combustion: Burning fuels increases carbon dioxide
• Water cycle:
• Evaporation: Water vaporizes from bodies of water
• Condensation: Water vapor forms clouds
• Precipitation: Water falls as rain
• Runoff: Water flows into rivers and lakes
• Nitrogen cycle:
• Nitrogen Fixation: Bacteria convert nitrogen into a usable form
• Assimilation: Plants absorb nitrogen
• Consumption: Animals consume plants
• Decomposition: Dead animals return nitrogen
• Denitrification: Bacteria return nitrogen to the air

Photosynthesis

• Photosynthesis: Plants use sunlight to make food.
• Word equation: Carbon dioxide + Water + Sunlight → Glucose + Oxygen
• Chemical equation: 6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight → C6H12O6 + 6O2
• Example: Grass photosynthesizing.

Cellular Respiration

• Cellular Respiration: Cellular Respiration is how organisms break down food for energy.
• Word Equation: Glucose + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + Water + ATP
• Chemical Equation: C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + ATP
• Example: A fox uses oxygen to release energy from food.

Biodiversity and Threats to Biodiversity

• Biodiversity: The biodiversity refers to the variety of living things in an area, for example, Coral reefs full of fish and coral species
• Threats to the biodiversity includes
• Habitat loss such as cutting forests
• Pollution, for example, oil spills kill sea life
• Climate change such as melting ice affecting polar bears
• Invasive species, when Zebra mussels damage lakes
• Overexploitation, such as Overfishing cod

Expanded Water Cycle

• Evaporation happens when water from oceans, lakes, rivers, and soil turns into water vapor because the sun's heat
• Transpiration is when water evaporates from the leaves of plants into the atmosphere
• Condensation is when water vapor cools down high in the atmosphere, forming clouds (gas to liquid).
• Precipitations how water falls from clouds as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
• Runoff is when Water runs over the surface of the land into bodies of water like rivers, lakes, and oceans.
• Infiltration and Percolation describes how water soaks into the ground and moves deeper underground, replenishing groundwater supplies.
• Groundwater Flow describes how underground water moves through soil and rock layers to eventually flow into lakes, rivers, and oceans.

Expanded Nitrogen Cycle

• Nitrogen is needed to build proteins and DNA in all living things.
• Most nitrogen is in the atmosphere as N2 gas, but it must be "fixed" into a usable form
• Nitrogen Fixation happens when Special bacteria in the soil and root nodules of legumes change nitrogen gas into ammonia
• Lightning splits N2 molecules to fix nitrogen
• Nitrification: Other bacteria convert ammonia into nitrites and then nitrates, which plants absorb.
• Assimilation: Plants absorb nitrates and use them to make proteins, and animals eat plants to take in the nitrogen.
• Ammonification: Decomposers break down dead organisms and waste, releasing ammonia back into the soil.
• Denitrification: Denitrifying bacteria turn nitrates back into nitrogen gas, returning it to the atmosphere.
• Bacteria are essential for usable nitrogen.
• Plants get nitrogen from soil, not air.
• Animals get nitrogen by eating plants or animals.

Expanded Carbon Cycle

• Carbon forms the backbone of all organic compounds like proteins, fats, and DNA
• Carbon moves between organisms and the environment through:
• Photosynthesis where plants absorb carbon dioxide from air and use sunlight to make sugars
• Cellular Respiration where animals break down sugars for energy, releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere
• Decomposition where Decomposers break down dead plants and animals, releasing carbon into the soil and atmosphere
• Combustion where burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
• Oceans absorb carbon dioxide, and marine plants use it for photosynthesis.
• Fossilization: Under pressure and over millions of years, dead plants and animals can turn into fossil fuels
• Photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide, and respiration and combustion adds carbon dioxide
• Carbon is stored in living things, atmosphere, oceans, and fossil fuels
• Human activities, specifically burning fossil fuels, leads to increased carbon dioxide and causes climate change