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Ecology Pt. 1
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Ecology | The study of how living things interact (behave) |
Biotic Factor | All the living things in an environment |
Abiotic Factor | All the non living things with in an environment |
Species | A group of organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring |
Population | A group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
Community | All of the populations of species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other |
Ecosystem | A community of organisms and their abiotic, or nonliving, environment |
Biome | A large region characterized by a specific type of climate and certain types of plant and animal communities |
Niche | The role of a species in its community, including use of its habitat and its relationships with other species |
Habitat | The place where an organism usually lives |
Producer | An organism that can make its own food by using energy from its surroundings |
Consumer | An organism that eats other organisms or organic matter |
Scavenger | An organism that feeds on dead or decaying plants/animals |
Herbivore | Organism that eats only plants |
Carnivore | Organism that eats only animals |
Omnivore | Organism that can eat both plants and animals |
Food Chain | A diagram showing how energy passes from one organism to the next in an ecosystem |
Food Web | A diagram that shows the feeding relationships between many organisms in an ecosystem. |
Carrying Capacity | The largest population that an environment can support at any given time |
Limiting Factor | An environmental factor that prevents an organism or population from reaching its full potential of size or activity (disease, predation, starvation, competition) |
Competition | Ecological relationship in which two or more organisms depend on the same limited resource |
Predator | An organism that kills and eats all or part of another organism |
Prey | An organism that is killed and eaten by another organism |
Symbiosis | A relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other |
Mutualism | A relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
Commensalism | A relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
Parasitism | A relationship between two species in which one species, the parasite, benefits from the other species, the host, which is harmed |
Parasite | An organism that lives in or on another organism and benefits by taking nutrients from its host |
Host | An organism from which a parasite takes food or shelter |
Energy | The ability to do work |
Energy Pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web (only 10% is transferred) |