Download Name Date ______ Ecological Communities Vocabulary Define

Name ______________________________________
Date ___________
Ecological Communities
Vocabulary
Define each vocabulary term in your own words. Then, write yourself a quick note on
how you will remember each. One term has been done for you.
Term
Definition
Primary Producer Autotrophs, capture energy from the sun or from chemicals
and store it as sugars.
Photosynthesis
Chemosynthesis
Bacteria that use hydrogen to convert it to sugar
Consumer
Herbivore
An organism that is a primary consumer and eats plants
Carnivore
Omnivore
Detritivore
Organisms that consumer nonliving organic matter. Large
detrivores like vultures are often called scavengers.
Decomposer
Trophic Level
Biomass
Food Chain
Is its rank in a feeding hierarchy.
Is the total amount of living tissue in a trophic level.
Food Web
Keystone Species A species that is strong or has a wide-reaching impact on a
community.
Producers and Consumers
1. Identify the ultimate source of energy for most of Earth’s ecosystems.
2. Why are plants considered primary producers? _____________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______3. About how much energy in one trophic level transfers to the trophic level
above it?
A. 5 percent
B.10 percent
C. 25 percent
D. 50 percent
4. What effect would the removal of a keystone species have on an ecological
community? Write a short explanation of this effect in terms of trophic cascade.
Provide a specific example that illustrates this process.
Term
Succession
Definition
When a community experiences predictable changes over
time.
Primary Succession
Pioneer Species
Species that first colonize newly exposed land
Predation
Secondary Succession
Invasive Species
Is a nonnative organism that spreads widely in a
community.
5. When does a species become invasive?
6. Complete the food chain below. Fill in each circle with one of the organisms in Word
Bank A. Next, identify the role of each type of organism in the food chain by writing
a label from Word Bank B on the lines below the circles. Then, use the percentages
in Word Bank C to show how much energy is transferred to each organism on the
lines above the circles.
Word Bank A:
algae
big fish
bird small
fish
Word Bank B:
carnivore
decomposers
herbivore
primary producer
Word Bank C:
0.1%
1%
10%
100%
Chapter Vocabulary Review
Use the clues to complete the crossword puzzle.
Across
Down
1 a relationship in which two or more
species benefit
2 the ability to survive and reproduce under
changing environmental conditions
6 primary consumers
3 the process by which new species are
generated
7 a heritable trait that increases individual
fitness
8 the disappearance of a species
10 the process by which one species hunts
and kills another
11 series of ecological changes over time
4 change over time
5 a physically close relationship in which at
least one organism benefits
9 an organism’s use of resources and
functional role in a community