| A | B |
|---|
| Ecology | study of the interactions of organisms with each other and the environment (living and non-living) |
| Individual | a single organism |
| Population | a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular area |
| community | more than one population in the same area |
| ecosystem | includes all the living and non-living things in the area |
| biome | characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under the climate conditions of the region ex: desert, rainforest |
| biosphere | iland, air and water on Earth and all their organisms |
| biotic | living (animals, people) |
| abiotic | non-living (soil, water, temperature) |
| producers (autotroph) | an organism that makes its own food ex: plants |
| consumers (heterotroph) | an organism that must consume food for nutrients ex: fungi, animals |
| herbivores | eats only producers ex: cow |
| omnivore | eats both producers and consumers ex: humans |
| carnivore | only eats consumers ex: eagle |
| decomposers | break down dead organisms ex:fungi, bacteria |
| parasite | feeds off of a host ex:tick, plea |
| habitat | a place where an individual or population lives |
| niche | positon of a species in an ecosystem |
| competitive exclusion principle (CEP) | no two species can occupy the exact same niche at the same exact time |
| diversity | differences |
| stability | steady, permanent, unchanging |
| biodiversity | variety of all organisms in the biosphere, "earth's greatest natural resources" |
| symbiosis | close association between organisms |
| co-evolution | when two ro more species eveile in response to each other |
| mutualism | relationship in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | relationship in which one species benefits but other is not affected |
| parasitism | when one organism obtains nutrients by feeding on others |
| competition | neither species benefits |
| biomagnification | the increase in the concentration of a substance on a food chain |
| predation | interaction where one organism captures and feeds on another organism |
| Yellowstone | America's first national park |
| alpha female | leader of the wolf pack |
| water cycle | the repeated movement of water between Earth's surface and the atmosphere |
| global warming | increase in the Earth's temperature caused by build-up of carbon dioxide and other gases |
| nitrification | process where bacteria converts ammonia to nitrates |
| nitrogen fixation | process where certain bacteria convert nitrogen gas to ammonia |
