Term | Definition |
abioticfactor | Nonliving factor in the environment |
bioticfactor | Living factor in the environment |
commensalism | one benefits the other is unaffected |
ecology | study of interactions of organism and their environment |
ecosystem | biological community and all the abiotic factors that affect it |
habitat | area where an organism lives |
mutualism | both organisms benefit |
niche | role of an organism in its environment |
parasitism | one benefits the other is harmed |
population | organisms of one species that live in the same place at the same time |
predation | one organism consuming another |
symbiosis | two organisms living in a close relationship |
autotroph | organism that produces its own food |
biomass | total mass of living matter at each trophic level |
carnivore | eats only animals |
detritivore | eats fragments of dead matter, returning nutrients to ecosystem |
foodchain | simple model that shows how energy flows through an ecosystem |
foodweb | model representing interconnected food chains |
herbivore | eats only plants |
heterotroph | organism that gets energy from other organisms |
omnivore | eats plants and animals |
trophic level | step in a food chain |
nutrient | chemical substance that an organism must obtain to sustain life |
Carrying Capacity | size of population that an environment can support |
Cellular Respiration | Break down of sugar with oxygen to get energy |
Chemical Reaction | Converting of matter from one molecule to another |
Competition | 2 or more individuals trying to acquire the same resource |
Consumer | An organism that eats another organism for energy |
Exponential Growth | Steepest period of growth in a population suggesting abundant resources |
Limiting Factor | Resource that is not abundant enough to support a larger population |
Photosynthesis | Building sugar molecules from carbon dioxide and water using energy from the sun |
Producer | organisms which generate sugars through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis |
Product | Molecules on the right side of a chemical equation (end) |
Reactant | Molecules on the left side of a chemical equation (start) |
Scavenger | Organism which gains energy from eating dead organisms |