1. Trophic levels
1.1. The energy levels or steps in a food chain or food web
1.2. Ecosystem
1.2.1. Group of living organisms that interact with one another and the non living physical enviorment as one unit
1.2.2. Organism
1.2.2.1. Any form of life
1.2.3. Community
1.2.3.1. Population of living organism that interact with one another in an ecosystem
1.2.4. Population
1.2.4.1. A group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area
1.2.5. Biosphere
1.2.5.1. Layers of soil, water, and air that substains life
1.2.6. Biome
1.2.6.1. Geographic region of earth that is inhabitied by a community of distinct types of plant and associated animal species
1.2.7. Food Webs
1.2.7.1. representations of the predator-prey relationships between species within an ecosystem or habitat
1.2.7.2. Food Chain
1.2.7.2.1. •The sequence of who feeds on or decomposes whom in an ecosystem
1.2.8. Producer
1.2.8.1. The organisms that produce their own energy
1.2.8.2. Consumer
1.2.8.2.1. Primary Consumer
1.2.8.2.2. Secondary Consumer
1.2.8.2.3. Tertary Consumer
2. Ecological succession
2.1. the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established
2.2. Primary succession
2.2.1. plant life, occurring in an environment in which new substrate devoid of vegetation and usually lacking soil
2.3. Secondary succession
2.3.1. a process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem
2.4. Pioneer species
2.4.1. - the first organisms to start the chain of events leading to a livable biosphere or ecosystem
2.5. Climax community
2.5.1. a biological community of plants and animals which, through the process of ecological succession — the development of vegetation in an area over time
3. Biodiversity
3.1. the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth
3.2. Rainforest
3.2.1. a forest with heavy annual rainfall
3.3. Temperate deciduous forest
3.3.1. consists of trees that lose their leaves every year
3.4. Coniferous forest
3.4.1. A forest consisting mostly of conifers such as firs, pines and spruces, usually in climates too dry or too cold to support deciduous forest.
3.5. Desert
3.5.1. areas with an average annual precipitation of less than per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation
3.6. Tundra
3.6.1. a vast treeless plain in the Arctic regions where the subsoil is permanently frozen
3.7. Savannah
3.7.1. a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close
3.8. Freshwater biome
3.8.1. The aquatic biome consisting of water containing fewer salts than the waters in the marine biome
3.9. Marine biome
3.9.1. all the water that is on the earth's surface
3.10. Biotic factors
3.10.1. the factors in a biome/ecosystem/habitat that include all living things
3.11. Abiotic factors
3.11.1. components are non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment
3.12. Hot spots
3.12.1. Streams of molten rock arise deep inside the Earth and move upward through the crust to erupt on the surface or seafloor
4. Limiting factors
4.1. condition of the environment that limit the growth of species
4.2. Carrying capacity
4.2.1. the number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem can support
4.3. Population growth
4.3.1. increase in the number of people who inhabit a territory or state
4.4. Black Plague
4.4.1. killed off most people in 1400
4.5. Industrial Revolution
4.5.1. the world population went up in 1800
4.6. Exponential growth
4.6.1. occurs when the growth rate of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value
4.7. Sustainability
4.7.1. how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time
4.8. Logistic growth
4.8.1. Growth rates regulated by internal and external factors that establish an equilibrium with environmental resources
4.9. J-curve
4.9.1. a graph representing exponential population growth.
4.10. S-curve
4.10.1. the rate of growth is rapid and then the growth rate declines
4.11. Population growth rate
4.11.1. the change in a population over time
5. Water pollution
5.1. contamination of water, especially surface water, by sewage effluent, fertilizer runoff, industrial chemical discharge
5.2. Point source
5.2.1. pollution that comes from a single source
5.3. Non-point source
5.3.1. pollution that comes from a combination of town residents going about their everyday activities
5.4. Aquifer
5.4.1. underground bed or layer yielding ground water for wells and springs