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Chapter 18 Vocab.
Vocabulary for Chapter 18 of Science
| 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 environ- ment, including water, rocks, light, and temperature |
| Organism | a living thing; anything that can carry out life processes independently |
| Habitat | a habitat is an area were an organism can live |
| Population | a group of organisms of the same spe- cies 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 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 |
| Decomposer | an organism that gets energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms or animal wastes 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 | triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem’s loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the ecosystem’s food chain |
| Food Web | a diagram that shows the feeding rela- tionships 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 |