| A | B |
|---|
| diversity | a variety of organisms |
| succession | predictable replacement of populations in an ecosystem |
| consumer | animals that eat other animals as food |
| producer | organisms that can make their own food (like plants) |
| autotroph | another name for a plant or producer |
| heterotroph | another name for an animal or consumer |
| carnivore | organisms that eat meat (lions, tigers) |
| herbivore | organisms that eat plants only (sheep, cows) |
| omnivore | organsims that eat both plants and animals (humans) |
| decomposer | organism that gets nutrients from dead plants/animals |
| scavenger | organism that gets nutrients from dead animals (vulture) |
| niche | role of an organism in an ecosystem |
| predator | captures, kills and consumes another organism |
| prey | the organism eaten by the predator |
| mutualism | both organisms benefit from their association |
| commensalism | one organism benefits, the other is not affected |
| parasitism | one organism benefits, the other is harmed |
| ecosystem | all of the organisms and the non-living environment found in a place |
| pyramid of biomass | organic material in an ecosystem |
| pyramid of energy | amount of energy that can be transferred to the next level |
| competition | two or more organisms want (and fight for) the same resource (like water) |
| community | all populations in an area |
| biosphere | the area on and around earth where life exists |
| biotic | living component of an ecosystem |
| abiotic | nonliving component of an ecosystem |
| niche | the role an organism plays in its enviroment |
| carrying capacity | the number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem is capable of supporting |
| decomposer | an organism that obtains nutrients from dead organic matter |
| ecosystem | all the biotic and abiotic components of an environment |
| ecology | the study of the relationship between organisms and their enviornment |
| habitat | the area in which an organism lives |
| food chain | pathway, model beginning with producers along which energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level |
| food web | interconnected food chains in an ecosystem |
| primary consumer | eats the producer |
| secondary consumer | eats first order consumer |
| autotroph | producer |
| heterotroph | consumer |
| herbivore | eats plants |
| consumer | eats plants or animals |
