Eco Explorer Flashcards
Eco Explorer Vocabulary
Visual definitions for ecology concepts
Organization
E • col • o • gy
Ecology
The study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
Organization
Or • gan • ism
Organism
🦌
An individual member of a species.
Organization
Pop • u • la • tion
Population
🦌 🦌 🦌
A group of organisms belonging to the same species living in the same area.
Organization
Com • mu • ni • ty
Community
🦌 🐦 🌳
All organisms (of any species) living in the same area.
Organization
E • co • sys • tem
Ecosystem
🦌🌳
All organisms living in the same area and their physical environment.
Organization
Bi • ome
Biome
🏜️
A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms.
Organization
Bi • o • sphere
Biosphere
Our entire planet, with all of its organisms and physical environments.
Factors
Bi • ot • ic Fac • tors
Biotic Factors
🌿🐞 🦊🍄
Living parts of the ecosystem (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria).
Factors
A • bi • ot • ic Fac • tors
Abiotic Factors
Non-living parts of the ecosystem (temperature, wind, water, rocks).
Energy
Pro • duc • er
Producer
🌻
Organisms that use energy they make themselves (usually from sunlight).
Energy
Con • sum • ers
Consumers
🐺
Organisms that cannot make their own energy; they must eat other organisms.
Energy
1st Or • der Con • sum • er
1st Order Consumer
🐇 🌿
Herbivores (plant eaters) that eat producers to get their energy.
Energy
2nd Or • der Con • sum • er
2nd Order Consumer
🐍 🐇
May be a predator or scavenger, may be a carnivore or omnivore. They eat 1st order consumers.
Energy
3rd Or • der Con • sum • er
3rd Order Consumer
🦅 🐍
May be a carnivore or omnivore, may be a predator or scavenger. Top level predators.
Energy
Food Chain
Food Chain
☀️ 🌿 🐇 🐍
Shows the transfer of energy from the sun to producer to primary consumer then to higher order consumer.
Energy
Food Web
Food Web
🦉
🦅
🐍
🐁
🐇
🦗
🌿 🌾 🌻
Shows all the food chains in an ecosystem, interconnected.
Energy
Troph • ic Lev • els
Trophic Levels
Each step in a food chain or ecological pyramid is a trophic level.
Energy
En • er • gy Pyr • a • mid
Energy Pyramid
Ecological pyramids show the amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level.
Cycles
Bi • o • ge • o • chem • i • cal
Biogeochemical Cycles
🧪
A pathway where substances enter living organisms from the environment, stay for a time, then return.
Cycles
Wa • ter Cy • cle
Water Cycle
The cycle involving evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and percolation.
Cycles
Ni • tro • gen Fix • a • tion
Nitrogen Fixation
N2 NH4+
🦠
Bacteria in the soil converts nitrogen gas into ammonium ions.
Cycles
Ni • tri • fi • ca • tion
Nitrification
NH4+ NO3-
Certain bacteria turn ammonium ions into nitrite and nitrates that can be taken up by plants.
Cycles
De • ni • tri • fi • ca • tion
Denitrification
NO3- N2
Some nitrates are turned into nitrogen gas by certain bacteria and released to the atmosphere.
Cycles
De • com • po • si • tion
Decomposition
🍄 🦴
Fungi and bacteria break down dead organisms to release organic compounds and CO2.
Cycles
Fos • sil • i • za • tion
Fossilization
🦴
Over millions of years, dead organisms fossilize and become fossil fuels.
Cycles
Com • bus • tion
Combustion
Fuel CO2
The burning of fossil fuels releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Cycles
Weath • er • ing
Weathering
The breakdown of rock through physical and chemical means that releases phosphorous ions.
Cycles
Sed • i • men • ta • tion
Sedimentation
Dead marine organisms pressed into rocks, trapping phosphorous so it cannot be used.
Cycles
Up • lift
Uplift
When rocks from the ocean floor are moved to land by geological forces.
Ecology Vocabulary Set
29 Concepts Mastered
