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level: Level 1 - Definitions

Questions and Answers List

level questions: Level 1 - Definitions

Question	Answer
Refers to the number of organisms of a particular species in an area at a given time.	Abundance
The amount of variation shown by organisms in an ecosystem. A measure of the numbers of different species and the relative abundance of each species.	Biodiversity
Are environmental factors such as light intensity, temperature and water availability that affect the distribution and abundance of organisms.	Abiotic Factors
The way in which organisms are spread over an area.	Distribution
Factors affecting the abundance and distribution of organisms that are caused by other organisms, such as competition for food.	Biotic Factors
Refers to all the populations of all the organisms that live in an area or ecosystem.	Community
The study of living organisms and their environment.	Ecology
Consists of all the organisms and abiotic factors in a fairly self-contained area such as a lake or desert.	Ecosystem
The place where an organism lives.	Habitat
All of the organisms of one species living in the same habitat.	Population.
A square frame used for sampling the distribution and abundance of organisms.	Quadrat
The mass of living material, with all the water removed.	Biomass
An organism that causes decay of dead material, such as many fungi and bacteria.	Decomposer
An animal that feeds off dead or decaying matter.	Detritivore
An organism that eats a producer.	Primary Consumer
An organism that produces it's own food, such as plants which use light energy in photosynthesis to produce glucose.	Producer
An organism that eats primary consumers.	Secondary Consumer
An organism that eats secondary consumers.	Tertiary Consumer
is a feeding level in a food chain or food web such as a primary consumer or tertiary consumer.	Trophic Level
Can be represented in a diagram showing how carbon is transferred between living organisms and the environment.	The Carbon Cycle
Means burning, such as in the burning of fossil fuels.	Combustion
Are formed from organic material not fully decomposing and being compressed for thousands of years.	Fossil Fuels
Can be represented as a diagram that shows how the element Nitrogen is transferred in different forms between living organisms and the environment.	The Nitrogen Cycle
Bacteria in the soil and root nodules of legumes to convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms that plants can use.	Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria
Soil bacteria that convert nitrates in the soil into nitrogen gas which is released back into the atmosphere,	Denitrifying Bacteria
Soil bacteria that convert ammonium ions into nitrite ions or nitrite ions into nitrate ions so that they can be used by plants.	Nitrifying Bacteria
Diagram to shows the total number of individual organisms at each level in the food chain of an ecosystem.	Pyramid of Numbers
Diagram to show the biomass at each trophic level, rather than the population.	Pyramid of Biomass
An unbiased way to do sampling to be representative of the area being sampled.	Random