Chapter 3-Basic Needs of Living Things

A group of individuals that share certain characteristics distinct from other such groups (robins versus redwing blackbirds, for example). Classified into closely related groups called genera, and they in turn are grouped into families

The study of all processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions between living things and their environment

A certain number of individuals living that make up the interbreeding, reproducing group

The grouping of populations we observe when studying a forest, grassland, or pond

The particular kind of biotic community found in a given area (non living, chemical, and physical factors)

An interactive complex of communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within a particular area

Transitional regions between ecosystems

Clusters of interacting ecosystems like forests, open meadows, and rivers together constitute

A digital technology enabling the location and imaging of landscapes by use of satellite signals. It employs hardware, software, and data to display many forms of geographic information

A system of imaging the Earth from satellites, or of accessing data from devices that are distant from the scientist

Large area of Earth’s surface that shares climate and has similar vegetation

The overall ecosystem of Earth. The sum total of all the biomes and smaller ecosystems, which ultimately are all interconnected and interdependent through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle

Any factors that vary in space and time, but that are not used up or made unavailable to other species

Biotic and abiotic factors that are consumed by organisms

The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. For example, the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth

The entire span that allows any growth at all

The points at the high and low ends of the range of tolerance

Between the optimal range and the high or low limit of tolerance

A factor that limits growth

The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor. Also known as Liebig’s law of minimums

Two or more factors interacting in a way that causes an effect much greater than one would anticipate from each of the two acting separately

The kind of place—defined by the plant community and the physical environment—where a species is biologically adapted to live

The sum of all of the conditions and resources under which a species can live: what and where it lives, what it feeds on, where it finds shelter and nests, and and how it responds to abiotic factors

Anything that occupies space and has mass