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S7L1
Interactions of Living Things
Term | Definition |
---|---|
ecology | study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their environment |
biotic | describes living things in the environment |
abiotic | describes the nonliving part of the environment- including water, rocks, light and temperature |
population | a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
community | all the populations of species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other |
ecosystem | a community of organisms and their abiotic environment |
biosphere | the part of Earth where life exists |
herbivore | an organism that eats other plants |
carnivore | an organism that eats animals |
omnivore | an organism that eats both plants and animals |
food chain | shows how each living thing gets food and how nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature |
food web | a diagram that 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 |
carrying capacity | the largest population that an environment can support at any given time |
prey | an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism |
predator | an organism that kills and eats all or part of another organism |
symbiosis | a relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other |
mutualism | a relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
commensalism | a relationship between 2 organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
parasitism | a relationship between 2 species in which one species, the parasite, benefits from the other the host which is harmed |
coevolution | the evolution of 2 species that is due to mutual influence, often in a way that makes the relationship more beneficial to both species |