Term | Definition |
Autotroph | an organism that produces its own food.(Producer) |
Hetertroph | an organism that can't produce its own food.(Consumer) |
Ecology | the study of the relationships and interactions of living things with one another with their environment. |
Ecosystem | all the living and non living things in a given area-can be as tiny as a drop of water or as large as an ocean or forest. |
Abiotic factor | the non living parts of an ecosystem |
Biotic factor | the living parts of an ecosystem. |
Habitat | a place in which an organism lives- provides shelter, food, and other resources needed for survival. |
Population | A group of organisms of the same species living together in the same area. |
Species | A group of similar organisms that can produce fertile offspring. |
Community | All the living organisms in an area. |
Limiting factor | A factor in the environment that keeps a population from getting too big. |
Caring Capacity | The largest population of a species that in environment can support. |
Niche | In organisms role in an ecosystem. |
Invasive species | A species that is not native to the area and who's spread causes environmental harm. |
Trophic cascade | The secondary effect that part down the food chain after the removal of a top predator from an ecosystem. |
Producer (autotrophs) | Organisms that make its own food matrix all energy and then ecosystem(bottom of all food chains and food webs) |
Consumer(heterotrophs) | Organism that cannot make own food and feeds on producers organism that cannot make own food and feeds on producers or other consumers for food. |
Herbivore | Plant eater |
Carnivore | Meat eater |
Omnivore | Plant and meat eater |
Decomposer | Organisms that breakdown dead organisms and consume their nutrients |
Food chain | Food energy transferred from one organism to another by eating. |
Food web | All the possible overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. |
Feeding level | Location producer is the primary consumer the third Tertiary. |
Energy pyramid | Shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another more energy is available at the base of the pyramid then at the top |
Competition | When organisms use the same limited resources they can be divided between two species or individuals within a species |
Predation | When one animal eats another animal not a plant the predator eat the prey |