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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. |