Ecology Unit Key Terms

An immediate increase in the amount of algae and other producers that results from a large input of a limiting nutrient.

• Algal bloom

• Biogeochemical cycle

• Biogeochemical cycle

• Nitrogen fixation

Answer explanation

organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food from inorganic compounds; also called a producer

• Autotroph

• Carnivore

• Decomposer

• Food chain

the way an organism reacts to changes in its internal condition or external environment

• Behavior

• Habituation

• Stimulus

• Emigration

process in which elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another

• Biogeochemical cycle

• Biomass

• Biomass

• Food chain

total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level

• Biomass

• Detrivore

• Limiting nutrient

• Nutrient

organism that obtains energy by eating animals

• Carnivore

• Autotroph

• Heterotroph

• Omnivore

largest number of individuals of a population that a given environment can support

• Carrying capacity

• Density-independent limiting factor

• Exponential growth

• Imprinting

process by which some organisms, such as certain bacteria, use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates

• Chemosynthesis

• Photosynthesis

• Herbivore

• Producer

organism that relies on other organisms for its energy and food supply; also called a heterotroph

• Consumer

• Decomposer

• Denitrification

• Autotroph

organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter

• Decomposer

• Denitrification

• Herbivore

• Predator-prey relationship