click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Lesson 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 a organism's habitat. |
| Abiotic factor | A nonliving part of a organism's habitat |
| Species | A group of similar organisms that can mate with each other and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce. |
| Population | All 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 nonliving enviorment |
| Ecology | The study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment |
| Birth rate | The number of births per 1,000 individuals for a certain time period |
| Death rate | The number of deaths per 1,000 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 behavioral or physical characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in it's environment |
| Niche | How an organism makes it's living and interacts with the biotic and abiotic factors in it's habitat |
| Competiton | 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 I 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 which one benefits and one is neither helped or harmed. |
| Parasitism | A type of symbiosis in which one organism lives with , on, or with a host which harms it. |
| Parasite | The organism that benefits by living with, on, or in a host in a parasitism interaction. |
| Host | A organism that a parasite lives with,on, or in and provides a source of energy and a suitable environment for a parasite to live |
| Succession | The series of predictable changes that occur in a community over time. |
| Primary succession | The series of changes that occur in an area where no soil or organisms exist. |
| Pioneer species | The first species to populate an area during succession. |