| Question |
Answer |
| autotrophs |
organisms that make their own food; another name for producers |
| heterotrophs |
organisms that cannot make their own food; another name for consumers |
| homeostasis |
the process by which an organism’s internal environment is kept stable in spite of changes in the external environment |
| ecosystem |
all of the living and nonliving things that interact in an area |
| habitat |
the place where an organism lives and that provides the things the organism needs |
| biotic |
living part of an ecosystem |
| abiotic |
nonliving part of an ecosystem |
| community |
all of the different populations that live together in an area |
| population |
all of the members of one species in a particular area |
| ecology |
the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment |
| limiting factor |
an environmental factor that prevents a population from increasing |
| carrying capacity |
the largest population that an area can support |
| niche |
an organism’s particular role in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living |
| competition |
the struggle between organisms for limited resources in a habitat |
| predation |
an interaction in which one organism hunts and kills another organism for food |
| prey |
an animal that a predator feeds upon |
| symbiosis |
a close relationship between two organisms in which at least one organism benefits |
| mutualism |
a type of symbiosis in which both organisms benefit |
| commensalism |
a type of symbiosis in which one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| parasitism |
a symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives in or on another and harms it |
| parasite |
an organism that lives in or on a host and causes harm to the host |
| host |
an organism that provides a source of energy or a suitable environment for another organism to live |
| producer |
an organism that can make its own food; another name for autotroph |
| consumer |
an organism that cannot make its own food; another name for heterotroph |
| herbivore |
an animal that eats only plants |
| carnivore |
an animal that eats only other animals |
| omnivore |
an animal that eats both plants and other animals |
| scavenger |
a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead animals |
| decomposer |
an organism that breaks down large chemicals from dead organisms into small chemicals and returns important materials to the soil and water |
| food chain |
a series of events in which one organism eats another |
| food web |
the pattern of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem |
| energy pyramid |
a diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web. |
BIOL3326 Forms
