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Environment
vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Ecology | the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their environment. |
Biotic | describes living factors in the environment. |
Abiotic | describes the nonliving part of the environment, including water, rocks, light, and temperature. |
Organism | a living thing; anything that can carry out life processes independently. |
Habitat | the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. |
Population | a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area. |
Community | all of the populations of species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other. |
Ecosystem | a community of organisms and their abiotic, or nonliving, environment. |
Biosphere | the part of the earth where life exists. |
Producer | an organism that can make its own food by using energy from its surroundings. |
Consumer | an organism that eats other organisms or organic matter. |
Decompose | an organism that gets energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms or animal waste and consuming or absorbing the nutrients. |
Herbivore | an organism that eats only plants. |
Carnivore | an organism that eats animals. |
Omnivore | an organism that eats both plants and animals. |
Food chain | the pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of organisms. |
Food web | a diagram the shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem. |
Energy pyramid | a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem's loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the ecosystem's food chain. |