| A | B |
|---|
| Ecology | study of interactions among organisms and their environment |
| Biosphere | highest level of organization in ecology; all the combined portions of planet earth |
| Species | the simplest grouping in ecology; organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| Population | groups of the same species |
| Communities | groups of different populations |
| Ecosystem | all of the different communities and the abiotic factors in the environment |
| Biome | groups of similar ecosystems |
| Autotroph | an organism that can produce it’s own food |
| Producer | an organisms that can produce it’s own food |
| Photosynthesis | process by which autotrophs or producers use the sun’s light energy to produce food |
| Chemosynthesis | process by which autotrophs or producers can produce energy from chemicals (usually bacteria) |
| Heterotroph | organisms that rely on others for food |
| Consumer | organism that rely on others for food |
| Herbivore | a heterotroph that obtains energy by feeding on plants |
| Carnivore | a heterotroph that obtains energy by eating other animals |
| Omnivore | a heterotroph that eats both plants and animals |
| Detritivore | a heterotroph that feeds on dead plant or animal material called detritus |
| Decomposer | organisms that break down organic matter (usually these are bacteria and fungi) |
| Food Chain | a linear feeding relationship that show the one way flow of energy through trophic levels |
| Food Web | interconnected food chains that show the complex feeding relationships in an ecosystem |
| Trophic level | energy levels in an ecosystem; each step in a food chain or food web |
| Energy Pyramid | a diagram that shows only 10% of the original energy flows into the next trophic level |
| Biomass | the amount of living material found in a given trophic level |
| Pyramid of Numbers | a diagram that shows the relative amount of organisms that are in each trophic level |
