8th Grade Science Unit 3 & 4
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| Abiotic factor | A nonliving parts of an ecosystem. | Air, sunlight, soil, rocks, temperature, clouds, asphalt, dumpster, etc…
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| Adaptation | A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its natural environment. | Giraffe’s neck, humming bird’s beak, lions claws & teeth etc…
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| Biodiversity | The variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem. | Hundreds of different types plants in one square mile of a rainforest- high biodiversity.
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| Biotic factor | Anything living in an ecosystem. | Plants, animals, fungi, bacteria
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| Carnivore | An animal that eats only meat from other animals. | Lion, coyote, shark, snakes, owls, etc…
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| Catastrophic event | A disastrous event, natural or man-made that causes widespread damage or death. | Habitat destruction, pollution, development, overpopulation, war/ terrorism, etc…
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| Climax community | A community that exists in equilibrium and will not change drastically unless it is disturbed. | Forrest that has not be impacted by humans or catastrophic events
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| Community | All the different organisms (populations) that live together in an area. | San Antonio community would include trees, grass, animals, pets, people, etc...
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| Competition | Occurs when more than one individual or population tries to make use of the same resource. | Rams and deer fighting for mates, trees fighting for space,
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| Consumer | An organism that cannot make its own food so it obtains energy by feeding on other organisms. | All animals: humans, deer, bear, rabbits
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| Decomposers | An organism that breaks down dead organisms to recycle nutrients back into the environment. | Bacteria and fungi are the most common decomposers.
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| Ecosystem | All the living and nonliving things that interact in an area. | All the living animals in a forest interacting with the water, dirt, air, and temperature in the forest
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| Energy pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy transferred from one feeding level to another in a food chain. | Trophic pyramid.
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| Environment | The surroundings of an organism. | A squirrel’s environment is a tree in a forest.
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| Food chain | A series of events in which one organism eats another. | Grass-->Rabbit-->Fox
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| Food web | The pattern of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. | All of the feeding relationships within a lake or a forest.
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| Herbivore | An animal that eats only plants. | Rabbits, cows, zebras, giraffes, etc…
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| Light Quantity | The amount of sunlight in an area that reaches the ground. | The light reaching the ground in a field is greater than in a forest.
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| Limiting factors | Resources which may limit the number of organisms supported by an ecosystem. | Food, water, soil, space, etc…
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| Mutations | Random changes in genes that cause variations that can be helpful or harmful. | Extra digits, abnormal coloring, extra chromosomes, some diseases, etc….
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| Natural selection | The process by which organisms best adapted to their environment survive & reproduce to pass on favorable traits to their offspring. | Brightly colored birds are more likely to attract mates so they reproduce causing all the birds to eventually be brightly colored.
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| Nutrients | Food or any nourishing substance required by organisms to live and grow. | Food, elements plants need, water, etc…
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| Omnivore | An animal that eats both plants and animals. | Bears, raccoons, humans, chimps, etc…
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| Organism | Any living thing. | Plants, fungi, animals, bacteria, etc…
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| Population | All of the organisms of the same species that live in area at the same time. | All of the zebras living around a water source in Africa.
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| Primary Consumer | An animal that eats plants in a food chain – an herbivore. | Occupies the second trophic level in an energy pyramid.
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| Producer | An organism that can make its own food, usually by converting sunlight into glucose (sugar). | Plants.
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| Resources | Biotic and abiotic factors that an organism needs in order to survive. | Food, water, space, mates, etc…
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| Scarce | Restricted in quantity | Water in a dessert.
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| Secondary Consumer | An organism that feeds on herbivores in a food chain. | Occupies the third trophic level in an energy pyramid.
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| Space | An area where an organism lives and competes for biotic and abiotic factors. | A bear’s in a forest competes for food with other animals in that space.
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| Species | A group of similar organisms that can mate with one another and produce fertile offspring. | Brown bears, grizzly bears, polar bear, American black bear, etc…
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| Temperature Range | The difference between the average high temperature and average low temperature. | Temperatures in the Amazon Rainforest will be between 22C to 33C.
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| Tertiary Consumer | A predator that eats another animal in a food chain. | Occupies the fourth trophic level in an energy pyramid.
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| Tolerance | ability of an organism to endure unfavorable environmental conditions | Polar Bears have a cold tolerance due to their excess fat and adaptation of hibernation.
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| Ecological Succession | The changing sequence of communities that live in an ecosystem during a given time period. | An environment starts simple with few organisms and diversifies over time to climax community.
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| Pioneer Species | First organisms to live in an area. | Primary: lichen, mosses, bacteria
Secondary: grass and weeds
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| Primary Succession | A process that develops a biotic community in a previously uninhabited and barren habitat with little or no soil. | New environment or one affected by a large volcanic eruption. Usually starts with lichen.
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| Secondary Succession | A process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species. | After a wildfire an environment must rebuild itself through secondary succession.
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| Environmental Impacts | Change in an ecosystem . Can last a few hours up to a permanent change. | Ex: flood, drought, volcanic eruption, deforestation, global warming, invasive species, etc...
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