Final Review: Ecology

Front

What is parasitism?

Back

A relationship where one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of another organism (the host). Example: A tapeworm in a rat's intestines.

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What is competition in ecology?

Back

A relationship where organisms compete for the same resources, such as territory, mates, or food. Example: Lions fighting for territory.

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What is mutualism?

Back

A relationship where both organisms benefit from the interaction. Example: Bees pollinating flowers while feeding on nectar.

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What is commensalism?

Back

A relationship where one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. Example: Barnacles on a whale.

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What is a food chain?

Back

A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.

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What is a food web?

Back

A complex network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.

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What is a producer?

Back

An organism that can make its own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Example: Plants.

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What is a consumer?

Back

An organism that cannot produce its own food and must eat other organisms. Example: Animals.

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What is a decomposer?

Back

An organism that breaks down dead or decaying organisms, returning nutrients to the soil. Example: Fungi.

Front

What is an ecosystem?

Back

A community of living organisms and their physical environment interacting as a system.