Term | Definition |
ecosystem | an area in which living things interact with one another and with nonliving things |
population | a group of organisms of the same species living together in an ecosystem |
community | all of the populations living in an ecosystem |
habitat | the part of an ecosystem in which an organism lives |
niche | an organisms's role in an ecosystem |
diversity | a measure of the number and variety of species in an ecosystem |
producer | an organism that makes its own food |
food chain | a sequence of connected producers and consumers |
consumer | an organism that eats other organisms |
food web | a group of connected food chains in an ecosystem |
energy pyramid | a diagram that shows that energy is lost at each level in a food chain |
competition | the struggle among organisms for limited resources in an area |
symbiosis | a close relationship between organisms of different species in which one or both of the organisms benefit |
parasite | an organism that benefits from its relationship with an organism that it lives in or on while the other is harmed |
host | the organism that a parasite lives in or on |
natural resource | a material that occurs in nature and is essential or useful to people |
conservation | the careful use of resources so that they will last as long as possible |
recycle | to process used products into new products by using the materials again |
reuse | to use items again after their original use |
extinction | the loss of an entire species |
endangered species | a species with so few individuals that it could die out |
wetland | an area of land that is covered by water all or much of the time |