definition | word |
an environmental factor that tends to limit population size. | limiting factor |
-the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms. | Ecology |
living | biotic |
non-living | abiotic |
all of the species living in one area | Population |
an assemblage of species living close enough together for potential interaction | Community |
a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment | Ecosystem |
the ecosystem comprising the entire earth and the living organisms that inhabit it. | Biosphere |
an animal that feeds on grass and other plants | Herbivore |
an animal that eats flesh | Carnivore |
eating both animal and plant foods. | Omnivore |
an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter. | Scavenger |
a series of organisms interrelated in their feeding habits, the smallest being fed upon by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one. | food chain |
a series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions; the entirety of interrelated food chains in an ecological community. | food web |
a depiction of the amount of energy in each trophic level of an ecosystem | energy pyramid |
the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism | habitat |
the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals. | niche |
the maximum number of individuals that an area of land can support, usually determined by their food requirements | carrying capacity |
an animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal. | prey |
any carnivorous animal | Predator |
the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism. | Symbiosis |
organisms in which both benefit from the association. | Mutualism |
a type of relationship between two species of a plant, animal, fungus | Commensalism |
a relation between organisms in which one lives as a parasite on another. | Parasitism |