Trophic Cascade--Ecology

Herbivore (Primary Consumer)

A consumer that eats plants for energy

trophic cascade

A series of changes in the population sizes of organisms at different trophic levels in a food chain, occurring when predators at high trophic levels indirectly promote populations of organisms at low trophic levels by keeping species at intermediate trophic levels in check. Trophic cascades may become apparent when a top predator is eliminated from a system.

keystone species

A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem

teriary consumer

An organism that eats secondary consumers

Ecology

Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment

predation and herbivory

a +/- interaction between species in which one species, the predator, kills and eats the other, the prey

direct effect

an interaction between two species that does not involve other species

indirect effect

an interaction between two species that involves one or more intermediate species

indirect commensalism

an interaction in which one species benefits another species indirectly, through an intermediary species, without itself being helped or harmed

Mutualism (+/+)

both species benefit from the interaction

ecological pyramid

diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in a food chain or food web

competition exclusion principle

no two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time

secondary consumers (carnivores)

obtain their energy by eating primary consumers

predation/parasitism

one species benefits and the other is harmed or affected

exploitation competition

organisms compete indirectly through the consumption of a limited resource

apex predator (ecology)

predators with few to no predators of their own