VOCABULARY
abiotic: non living. Describe the environment of an ecosystem, such as sunlight, temperature, waves, etc.
biotic: living. Describes the organisms of an ecosystem.
community: groups of organisms in a particular environment that interact with one another. The term community describes the living components of an ecosystem.
ecosystem: communities of plants, animals, and microbes interacting with each other and their environment. The term ecosystem describes both the living and nonliving components of an area that interact with one another.
autotroph: an organism who can make its own food from inorganic materials
carnivore: an organism that eats meat.
consumer: an organism that consumes or ingests other organisms to obtain food. Animals are consumers because they cannot produce their own food as plants can. Also known as a heterotroph.
decompo ser: an organism who breaks down complex organic materials into simpler, inorganic substances. Bacteria are important decomposers, releasing nutrients from the wastes and remains they decompose. These nutrients can then be used by the producers in photosynthesis.
deposit feeding: a feeding strategy that involves an organism consuming particulates that have settled out on the substrate.
detritivore: an organism who feeds on detritus.
detritus: the stuff that is left over when organic materials decompose.
food chain: the transfer of energy, in the form of food, through a chain of organisms, starting with producers and ending with consumers. Every time an organism in the chain is eaten,some of its energy is transferred to the organism that has eaten it.
food web: a series of interconnected, interlocking food chains. Food chains become interconnected because most organisms eat more than one kind of food and therefore are involved in more than one food chain.
filter feeding: a feeding strategy in which organisms create currents and then filter food particles from these currents. It is generally employed by sessile marine organisms, such as sponges and bivalves.
grazer: an animal that grazes on plants. See herbivore.
herbivore: an organism that eats plants.
heterotroph: an organism who cannot make its own food from inorganic materials.
producer: an organism that produces its own food from inorganic substances. Plants produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Also known as an autotroph.
suspension feeding: a feeding strategy in which an organism relies on waves and currents to bring in suspended particulates that become trapped in specialized feeding structures.
algae: a large group of simple plants that are mostly aquatic and lack true stems, leaves, and roots. This group includes the microscopic zooxanthellae that live in the tissues of coral and the 20 ft tall kelp that thrive in colder water habitats.
zooxanthellae: the tiny, single-celled algae that live symbiotically with corals. Although the exact relationship between the coral and zooxanthellae is not completely understood, it is believed that as the zooxanthellae photosynthesi ze, they use up wastes that would otherwise accumulate in the corals' tissues. At they same time they may provide food and oxygen that the coral can use. The zooxanthellae also facilitate the corals' ability to build their calcium carbonate skeletons. Corals are said to be bleached when they have lost their zooxanthellae.
benthic: living in or on the bottom of the ocean.
habitat: the place where an organism lives.
nekton: powerfully swimming animals capable of controlling their speed and direction.
nocturnal: active during the night
plankton: the small floating or weakly swimming plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) that are carried by the currents and serve as a food source.
sessile: living attached to the substrate or a hard surface. The term generally refers to those organisms who are immobile or sedentary.
symbiosis: any close association between two dissimilar organisms, in which at least one of the organisms derives some benefit from the relationship. The three categories of symbiosis are:
mutualism: both organisms benefit from the relationship
commensalism: one organism benefits from the relationship and the other is unaffected
parasitism: one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed from the relationship
bilateral symmetrical: a type of body design in which the body is divided into two parts along one plane that are mirror images of each other. Humans are an example bilaterally symmetrical organisms.
eukaryote: an organism possessing a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles.
invertebrate: an animal without a backbone.
prokaryote: an organism not possessing a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles. The cells of a prokaryote are generally smaller and simpler than that of a eukaryote.
radial symmetry: a type of body design in which the body parts radiate out and around a central point, much as the spokes of a bicycle tire do. Sea stars are examples of radially symmetrical organisms.
vertebrate: an animal with a backbone.