| A | B |
|---|
| carrying capacity | largest population an environment can support over time |
| competition | two or more individuals trying to use the same limited resource |
| biotic | living factors in an ecosystem |
| abiotic | nonliving factors in an ecosystem |
| population | all the organisms of the same species living in the same area at the same time |
| community | all the populations that live and interact in one area |
| herbivore | a consumer that eats only plants |
| carnivore | a consumer that eats only animals |
| omnivore | a consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| scavenger | a consumer that feeds off the bodies of dead animals |
| sun | the ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem |
| producer | an organism that makes its own food |
| consumer | an organism that must rely on other organisms to get their own food |
| decomposer | an organism that gets its food by breaking down the remains of dead organism |
| habitat | the environment an organism lives in |
| niche | the role an organism plays in its environment |
| symbiosis | a close association between two or more species |
| mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
| commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
| parasitism | a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed |
| food chain | a diagram that shows how the energy in food molecules travels from one organism to the next |
| food web | a diagram that shows the many possible energy pathways in an ecosystem |
| energy pyramid | a model that shows the loss of energy at each level of the food chain |
