Term | Definition |
Ecosystem | A community and the abiotic parts of its environment |
Autotroph | Any organism that can create its own food from inorganic materials |
Heterotroph | An organism that cannot create its own energy and must instead rely on consuming nutrients from other organisms |
Producers | An organism that makes its own food |
Primary Consumers | Organisms that eat plants |
Secondary Consumers | Organisms that eat the primary consumers and or may eat plants |
Decomposers | A type of consumer that gets its food by breaking down animal wastes and remains of dead plants and animals |
Herbivores | An animal that consumes only plants |
Carnivores | An animal that eats only other animals |
Omnivores | An animal that eats plants as well as other animals |
Population | Organisms of the same species living together in the same environment |
Community | The populations living in the same environment at the same time |
Population Density | Is a measure of how many organisms live in that area |
Limiting Factor | An environmental factor that causes a population to decrease |
Food Chain | A model that shows one set of feeding relationships among living things |
Food Web | A model that shows many different feeding relationships among living things |
Predator | An animal that feeds on other living animals |
Prey | The animals predators eat |
Organism | Any individual living thing |
Succession | An ecological change |
Energy Pyramid | A model that shows the available amount of energy in each trophic layer in an ecosystem |
Competition | It is what animals do to survive, they fight for their food |
Mutualism | The symbiotic relationship that benefits both organisms involved |
Symbiosis | Interaction between two organisms in close physical association |
Coexistence | To live at the same time |
Cooperation | To work together to do something |
Succession Primary | Regions in which soil is in capable of sustaining life |
Succession Secondary | Areas where communities previously existed been removed |
Taiga | A biome where winters are very cold and long and the dominant plants are conifers |
Tundra | Extremely cold climate located near the North and South Poles and on the tops of mountains; receives very little precipitation and has no trees |
Deciduous Forest | A biome in which the dominant plants are broad-leaved trees that shed their leaves each fall |
Grasslands | A biome where the dominant plants are grasses |
Tropical Rain Forests | A forest that is humid and rainy for much of a year |
Deserts | An area that gets little precipitation and has very little vegetation |
Ocean | A large body of salt water that covers most of Earth |