Grade 9 Science Ecosystems Key Terms Game Grade

Grade 9 Science – Ecosystems Key Terms Game

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecology

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The science of the relationships between organisms and their environments.

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecosystem

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems All living organisms that share a region and interact with each other AND non-living components of their environment…that is, their physical and chemical environment

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Biotic Factor

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Living things, their remains and features such as nest that are associated with the living thing’s activities. It includes insects, mammals, micro-organisms, plant and animal remains, etc.

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Abiotic Factor

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The non-living physical and chemical components of an ecosystem. Examples include temperature, wind, rainfall, air, water and minerals

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Sustainability

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ability to maintain a natural ecological balance without weakening, interruption or loss of value

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Competition

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship wherein two organisms occupying the same area try to utilize the same resource (e. g. , eat the same food) that is limited in supply

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Photosynthesis

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Process in which the Sun’s energy is converted to chemical energy (i. e. , sugar) 6 CO 2 + 6 H 2 O + Sun energy = 6 O 2 + C 6 H 12 O 6

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Producer

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Organism that makes its own energy-rich food compounds using the Sun’s energy (i. e. , light) On land, most producers are green plants, and their colour comes from chlorophyll which captures light energy

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Consumer

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Organism that obtains its energy from consuming other organisms. Consumers CANNOT photosynthsize

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Food Chain

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Sequence of organisms, each feeding on the next, shown how energy is transferred from one organism to the next. NOTE: Food Chains do NOT exist in nature. Rather, they are part of a complex set of relationships

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Food Web

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A representation or illustration of the feeding relationships within a community. A Food Web is a group of interwoven Food Chains

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Trophic Level

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The level of an organism in an ecosystem depending on its feeding position along a food chain

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecological Niche

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The role an organism plays in it’s environment. It includes where it lives, what it eats, and how it behaves.

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Biodiversity

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Variety of life in a particular area. It is measured by counting the number of species in a specific habitat or ecosystem

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Primary Succession

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Succession on a newly exposed ground where “no life” previously existed. Usually follows a catastrophic event such as a volcanic eruption

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Secondary Succession

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Succession in a partially disturbed ecosystem. Follows a minor disturbance such as a forest fire

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Pollution

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Harmful contaminants released into the environment

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Bonus: Parasitism

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship where one organism (parasite) lives off of another organism (host) harming it and possibly causing death. The parasite lives on or in the body of the host. An example is Lyme disease. It is a bacteria that transmitted by blacklegged ticks. Once in the host, the bacteria thrives while the host suffers

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Bonus: Limiting Factor

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Any factor that restricts the size of a population Limiting factors can be biotic (e. g. , number of prey) or abiotic (e. g. , hours of sunlight)

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Bonus: Carrying Capacity

Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The maximum population size of a particular species (i. e. , number of individual organisms) that a given ecosystem can sustain indefinitely NOTE: Carrying Capacity is not fixed. It can be altered by human intervention (e. g. , draining part of a swamp) or by naturally by “species invasions”