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Section 1 & 2 Vocab.
Straughn High School 9th Grade Honors Biology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ecology | scientific study of all the interrelationships between organisms and their enviroment |
| Biosphere | relatively thin layer of Earth and its atmosphere that supports life |
| Biotic Factor | any living factor in an organism's environment |
| Abiotic Factor | any nonliving factor in an organism's environment, such as soil, water temperature, and light availability |
| Population | group of organisms of the same species that occupy the same geographic place at the same time |
| Biological Community | all the interacting populations of different species that live in the same geographic location at the same time |
| Ecosystem | biological community and all the nonliving factors that affect it |
| Biome | large group of ecosystems that share the same climate and have similar types of communities |
| Habitat | physical area in which an organism lives |
| Niche | role, or position, of an organism in its environment |
| Predation | act of one organism feeding on another organism |
| Symbiosis | close mutualistic, parasitic, or commensal association between two or more species that live together |
| Mutualism | symbolic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
| Commensalsim | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is neither helped nor harmed |
| Parasitism | symbolic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another organism |
| Autotroph | organism that captures energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to produce its own food; provides the foundation of the food supply for other organisms; also called a producer |
| Heterotroph | organism that cannot make its own food and gets its nutrients and energy requirements by feeding on other organisms; also called a consumer |
| Herbivore | heterotroph that eats only plants |
| Carnivore | heterotroph that preys on other heterotrophs |
| Omnivore | heterotroph that consumes both plants and animals |
| Detritivore | heterotropgh that decomposes organic material and returns the nutrients to soil, air, or water, making nutrients available to other organisms |
| Trophic Level | each step in a food chain or web |
| Food Chain | simplified model that shows a single path for energy flow through an ecosystem |
| Food Web | model that shows many interconnected food chains and pathways in which energy and matter flow through an ecosystem |
| Biomass | total mass of living matter at each trophic level |