What is an ECOSYSTEM?
All the living things (biotic components) together with all the non-living things (abiotic components) in an area.
What is meant by the term BIOTIC?
Living components of the environment that may affect other living things.
What is meant by the term ABIOTIC?
Non-living components of the environment that may affect living things.
What is a POPULATION?
All the organisms of one species living in a defined area.
What is a COMMUNITY?
A group of populations of different species that live together in an area and interact with each other.
What is a HABITAT?
The place within an ecosystem where an organism lives.
What is a NICHE?
The role of a species within the ecosystem.
What is BRACKISH WATER?
Water that is salty but not as salty as seawater.
What is a FOOD CHAIN?
A diagram that shows the relationship between a single producer and primary, secondary and tertiary consumers.
What is PHOTOSYNTHESIS?
The process by which plants or plant-like
What are PRODUCERS?
Organisms within an ecosystem that can carry out photosynthesis.
What are HERBIVORES?
Another name for primary consumers.
What are CARNIVORES?
Another name for secondary and tertiary consumers.
What are PRIMARY CONSUMERS?
Organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food from producers.
What are SECONDARY CONSUMERS?
Organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food from primary consumers.
What are TERTIARY CONSUMERS?
Organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food from secondary consumers.
What are DECOMPOSERS?
Organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food from the bodies of dead organisms.
What is a FOOD WEB?
A diagram showing the relationship between all, or most, of the producers, primary, secondary and tertiary consumers in an ecosystem.
What is a PYRAMID OF NUMBERS?
A diagram that represents the numbers of organisms at each feeding trophic level in an ecosystem by a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to the numbers at that level.
What is a TROPHIC LEVEL?
A feeding level within a food chain or web.
What is CHLOROPHYLL?
The green pigment in plants that traps light energy.
What is RESPIRATION?
The process by which living things release energy from food to carry out the processes of life, such as movement.
What is POLLEN GRAIN?
The structure in plants that contains the male sex cell; it is carried to the female organ by pollination.
What is a QUADRAT?
A frame of known area used to sample organisms that do not move, such as plants.
What is RANDOM SAMPLING?
A sampling method in which the sampling device is placed using random number tables or the roll of dice.
What is a TRANSECT?
A sampling method in which sampling devices are laid out along a line already placed across an area.
What is SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING?
A sampling method in which the sampling device is placed along a line or some other pre-determined pattern, the most common pattern being the line of a transect.
What is a POOTER?
A device for retrieving small animals from devices such as nets and pitfall traps.
What is an EXTINCTION?
It's the process by which a species or other named group ceases to exist on the Earth or in a named area.
What is a CLIMAX COMMUNITY?
It's the stable community characteristic of an area that persists as long as the climate does not change.
What is GREENHOUSE GAS?
It's a gas that stops energy in the form of heat being lost from the atmosphere.
What is ECOTOURISM?
Tourism in which the participants travel to see the natural world, ideally in a sustainable way.
What is a CARBON SINK?
A vegetated area where the intake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in photosynthesis exceeds its output from respiration, so the net flow of carbon is from the atmosphere into plants.
What is a CARBON STORE?
It's a mature vegetated area where the intake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by photosynthesis equals its output from respiration, so the mature plants store carbon.