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environment chapter1
environment chapter 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| organism | a living thing |
| habitat | an environment that provides the things a specific organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce |
| biotic factor | a living or once living part of and organism's habitat |
| abiotic factor | a nonliving part of an organism's habitat |
| species | a group of organisms that can mate with each other and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce |
| population | all the members of one species living in the same area |
| community | all the different populations that live together in a particular area |
| ecosystem | the community of organisms that live in a particular area; along with their non-living environment |
| ecology | the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment |
| birth rate | the number of births per 1000 individuals for a certain time period |
| death rate | the number of deaths per 1000 individuals for a certain time period |
| immigration | movement of individuals into a population's area |
| emigration | movement of individuals out of a population's area |
| population density | the number of individuals in an area of a specific size |
| limiting factor | an environmental factor that causes a population to decrease in size |
| carrying capacity | the largest population that a particular environment can support |
| natural selection | the process by which organisms that are best adapted to their environment are most likely to survive and reproduce |
| adaptation | an inherited behavior or physical characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment |
| niche | how an organism makes its living and interacts with |
| competition | the struggle between organisms to survive as they attempt to use the same limited resources in the same place at the same time |
| predation | an interaction in which one organism kills another for food or nutrients |
| predator | the organism that does the killing in a predation interaction |
| prey | an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism in a predation interaction |
| symbiosis | any relationship in which two species live closely together and that benefits at least one of the species |
| mutualism | a type of symbiosis in which both species benefit from living together |
| commensalism | a type of symbiosis between two species in which one species benefits |
| parasitism | a type of symbiosis in which one organism lives on, in, or with a host and harms it |
| parasite | the organism that benefits from living with, on, or in a host in a parasitism interaction |
| host | an organism that a parasite lives in, on, or with and provides a source of energy |
| succession | the series of predictable changes that occur in a community over time |
| primary succession | |
| pioneer species | |
| secondary succession |