Ecosystem Basics Quiz

Ecosystem Basics

• Succession: Predictable and orderly changes in an ecosystem over time.

• Primary Succession: Occurs on barren surfaces lacking soil, initiating ecosystem development.

• Secondary Succession: Follows disturbances that destroy a community but maintain soil integrity.

• Pioneer Species: Initial organisms that colonize a new environment during primary succession.

• Climax Community: A stable and mature ecological state, no longer undergoing significant changes.

• Ecology: The study of interactions among organisms and their interactions with the environment.

• Biosphere: Encompasses all areas of Earth where life exists, from 11 km below sea level to 8 km above.

• Biotic Factors: Any living components in an ecosystem, such as animals, plants, and microorganisms.

• Abiotic Factors: Non-living physical aspects of the environment, including water, sunlight, soil, and minerals.

• Organism: Any individual life form, such as a single deer.

• Species: Groups of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

• Fertile: Describes individuals or species capable of reproduction.

• Sterile: Refers to individuals or species unable to reproduce.

• Population: A collection of individuals from the same species living simultaneously in a specific area, like a herd of deer.

• Community: Various populations of different species occupying the same environment at once, e.g., deer, bunnies, and squirrels in a forest.

• Ecosystem: The combination of living organisms and their physical environment, such as a forest ecosystem.

• Biome: A larger ecological area characterized by specific climate conditions and distinct plant and animal communities, e.g., deserts and taigas.

• Niche: The role or function of an organism within its ecosystem, including its behavior and its interactions with other organisms.

• Habitat: The specific environment where an organism resides, such as a bear's den.

• Competition: Occurs when organisms vie for the same resources within a shared area, for example, birds competing for food.

• Resource: Essential life necessities including food, water, shelter, oxygen, space, and nutrients.

• Predation: A biological interaction where one organism hunts another for food, such as a cat that eats a mouse.

• Predator: The hunter in a predation relationship, examples include lions and spiders.

• Prey: The organism that is hunted and consumed, such as crickets or zebras.

• Symbiotic Relationship: Interactions between two different species, influencing both organisms’ survival.

• Mutualism: A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit, e.g., bees pollinating flowers while obtaining nectar.

• Commensalism: A type of symbiosis where one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed, such as remoras attaching to sharks.

• Parasitism: A relationship where one organism benefits at the expense of another, causing harm.

• Parasite: An organism that sustains itself by feeding off a host, e.g., ticks or fleas.

• Host: An organism that provides sustenance to a parasite, such as a dog or cat.

• Radiant Energy: Energy derived from sunlight, the original source of energy for ecosystems.

• Chemical Energy: Energy stored in food that organisms utilize for metabolic processes.

• Autotroph/Producer: Organisms that independently produce their own food, primarily using photosynthesis, including plants, some bacteria, and algae.

• Heterotroph/Consumer: Organisms that must consume other living entities for energy.

• Photosynthesis: The process by which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy to make food.

• Chemosynthesis: Conversion of inorganic compounds into organic food molecules by specific bacteria, often in extreme environments.