Name:___________________________ Per:_____
STATION 3: KEY CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY
Directions: Find the definitions of the vocabulary below. Discuss with your partners the key concepts of
that topic and write down your ideas. If you need more space to answer the questions, you may use a
separate sheet of paper.
1. Population growth and carrying capacity
Vocabulary
Key concepts
Population growth:
What is the population growth equation?
Why is carrying capacity important?
Carrying capacity:
Can the carrying capacity of a population change? How?
Logistic growth:
Exponential growth:
What are the differences between logistic and exponential
growth?
Limiting factors:
Which type of growth (exponential or logistic) best
represents reality? Why?
Ideal conditions:
2. Biodiversity
Vocabulary
Key concepts
Biodiversity:
How does biodiversity maintain a stable ecosystem?
Invasive species:
What does an invasive species do to the biodiversity of
an environment?
Keystone species:
What is a keystone species and why is it important to the
environment?
What other factors could affect biodiversity?
3. Cycling of matter and flow of energy
Vocabulary
Key concepts
Autotrophs:
How much energy is transferred from one trophic level to
the next? Why?
Heterotrophs:
Why are producers and decomposers important?
Decomposers:
Producers:
How does energy flow across an ecosystem?
Primary consumers:
Secondary consumers:
What is the main source of chemical energy for all living
organisms?
Tertiary consumers:
How do living things obtain their energy from the sun?
Glucose:
4. Carbon cycle: photosynthesis and cellular respiration
Vocabulary
Key concepts
Carbon:
Why is the carbon cycle important?
Geosphere:
How is carbon cycled across all 4 Earth subsystems?
Atmosphere:
Hydrosphere:
Biosphere:
How is carbon cycled with the processes of
photosynthesis and cellular respiration?
Photosynthesis:
Cellular respiration:
Diffusion:
Decomposition:
What are the equations for photosynthesis and cellular
respiration?
5. Ecosystem Equilibrium
Vocabulary
Key concepts
Community interactions:
How does an environment maintain its stability?
Predation:
Competition:
Why are ALL interactions important (even interactions
such as predation, competition, and parasitism)?
Symbiosis:
Mutualism:
Commensalism:
Parasitism:
Equilibrium:
What could disrupt the interactions in an ecosystem?
How?