click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
ecosystems
Term | Definition |
---|---|
biotic | relating to or resulting from living things, especially in their ecological relations. |
abiotic | physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms. |
ecosystem | a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. |
habitat | the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. |
organism | something having many related parts that function together as a whole. |
population | all the inhabitants of a particular town, area, or country. |
communtiy | a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. |
biosphere | the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth (or analogous parts of other planets) occupied by living organisms. |
producer | a person, company, or country that makes, grows, or supplies goods or commodities for sale. |
consumer | a person who purchases goods and services for personal use. |
decomposer | an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material. |
herbivore | an animal that feeds on plants. |
carnivore | an animal that feeds on flesh. |
omnivore | an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin. |
scavenger | a person employed to clean the streets. |
food web | a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains. |
predator | an animal that naturally preys on others. |
prey | an animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food. |
terrestrial ecosystem | of or relating to the earth or its inhabitants. |
aquatic ecosystem | an aquatic plant or animal, especially one suitable for a pond or aquarium. |
food chains | a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food. |
energy pyramid | a model that shows the flow of energy from one tropic, or feeding, level to the next in an ecosystem. |
competition | the activity or condition of competing |
estuary | the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. |
brackish | slightly salty water, as is the mixture of river water and seawater in estuaries. |
natural resources | materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature an can be used for economic gain. |