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Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Apex Predator (Consumer) | The predator at the top of the food chain who has no natural predator. |
| Aquatic ecosystem | An ecosystem in and around a body of water. |
| Carnivores | Obtain energy by eating other consumers. |
| Carrying Capacity | The maximum population size that an ecosystem can support. |
| Cellular Respiration | The process where cells break down food/sugars in the presence of oxygen to release energy. |
| Chemo-synthesis | The process by which bacteria turn chemical energy into food producers. |
| Commercialism | A symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which both organisms benefit. |
| Competition | An interaction that occurs when organisms try to get the same resources. |
| Consumers | Organisms in an ecosystem that cannot make their own food. Also called must obtain food from other sources.also called heterotrophs. |
| Cooperation | A helpful interaction among organisms living in a limited area that aids each organism’s survival. |
| Decomposer | Obtain energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms or wastes of living organisms. |
| Denitrification | The process in which fixed nitrogen compounds are converted back into nitrogen gas and returned to the atmosphere by bacteria. |
| Density Dependent Limiting Factor | A limiting factor that depends in some way on population size.These are usually biotic factors. |
| Density Independent Limiting Factor | A limiting factor that in no way depends on population size.These are usually abiotic factors. |
| Energy Pyramid | A diagram that shows the energy flows between organisms in an ecosystem. |
| Food Chain | A series of organisms in which each feeds on the one at the next lower trophic level. |
| Food Web | All of the food chains in an ecosystem and how they are interconnected. |
| Herbivores | Obtain energy by eating plants. |
| Host | An organism that a parasite lives in or on. |
| Limiting Factor | Any biotic or abiotic factor restricts the population size or affects population growth. |
| Mutualism | A close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species. There are three types of symbiosis-mutualism, commensalism, parasitism. |
| Nitrogen Fixation | The process that converts nitrogen in the atmosphere into compounds in the soil that are useful to a variety of organisms. |
| Omnivores | Obtain energy by eating both producers and other consumers. |
| Parasite | An organism that lives in or on another organism and benefits at the other organism’s expense. |
| Parasitism | A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed. |
| Photosynthesis | The process by which plants use the sun’s energy to make food chemosynthesis. The process where plants use the sun’s energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars/food. |
| Producers | organisms in an ecosystem that make their own food. Also called autotrophs. |
| Predation | An interaction in an ecosystem where the predator kills and eats the prey. |
| Predator | An organism that hunts, captures, and eats other organisms. |
| Prey | An organism that is hunted and eaten. |
| Symbiosis | All of the food chains in an ecosystem and how they are interconnected. |
| Terrestrial Ecosystem | A land-based ecosystem. |
| Trophic Level | An energy level in an ecosystem. |