| A | B |
|---|
| ecosystem | all the living and nonliving parts in an area |
| decomposer | an organism that helps to break down and decay dead organisms and the wastes of living organisms |
| habitat | the place where a species lives |
| niche | the role of a species in an ecosystem--what the organism does |
| population | all the members of one species that live in the same area |
| community | all the populations living together in one area |
| photosynthesis | the process by which plants use sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide |
| producer | an organism that uses sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide |
| consumer | an organism that consumes other organisms for food |
| carnivore | a consumer that eats other consumers (a meat eater) |
| omnivore | a consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| herbivore | a consumer that eats only producers (a plant eater) |
| energy pyramid | a digram that compares the amount of energy available at each position, or level, in the feeding order |
| food web | a combination of all the food chains in a community |
| scavenger | an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| ecology | the study of the relationships among living and nonliving parts of an area |
