Term | Definition |
ecology | the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment |
biotic | describes living factors in the environment |
abiotic | describes nonliving factors in the environment |
population | a group of individuals of the same species that live together in the same area at the same time |
community | all of the populations of different species that live and interact in an area |
ecosystem | a community of organisms and their nonliving environment |
biosphere | the part of the Earth where life exists |
herbivore | a consumer that eats plants |
carnivore | a consumer that eats animals |
omnivore | a consumer that eats a variety of organisms |
scavenger | an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead animals |
food chain | a diagram that represents the many energy pathways in a real ecosystem |
food web | a complex diagram representing the many energy pathways in a real ecosystem |
energy pyramid | a diagram shaped like a triangle shows the loss of energy at each level of the food chain |
habitat | the environment where an organism lives |
niche | an organism's way of life and its relationships with its abiotic and biotic environments |
carrying capacity | the largest population that a given environment can support over a long period of time |
prey | an organism that is eaten by another organism |
predator | an organism that eats other organisms |
symbiosis | a close, long-term association between two or more species |
mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
parasitism | a symbiotic association in which one organism benefits while the other organism is harmed |
coevolution | the long-term changes that take place in two species because of their close interactions with one another |