| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | study of interactions between organisms and their environment |
| biosphere | all parts of earth that support life |
| ecosystem | organisms and their nonliving environment |
| community | all the interacting organisms in an area |
| population | all the members of one species living in a particular area |
| habitat | place where an organism lives |
| biotic factor | living components of the environment |
| abiotic factor | nonliving components of the environment |
| niche | the specific role or way of life of an organism in it's environment |
| generalist | organisms with broad niches |
| specialist | organisms with narrow niches |
| producer | organism that makes its own food |
| biomass | all of the organic material in an ecosystem |
| net primary productivity | rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem |
| consumer | organism that eats other organisms for energy |
| herbivore | organism that eats producers only |
| omnivore | organism that eats both producers and consumers |
| carnivore | organism that eats other consumers only |
| detritivore | organism that feeds on the garbage of the ecosystem |
| decomposer | organism that breaks down complex organic molecules into simpler inorganic molecules |
| trophic level | an organism's position in a sequence of energy transfers |
| food chain | single pathway of feeding relationships |
| food web | interrelated feeding relationships |
| biogeochemical cycle | recycling of matter in an ecosystem |
| transpiration | evaporation of water from leaves |
| nitrogen fixation | taking N2 gas and making nitrates usable by organisms |
| nitrogen-fixing bacteria | organisms that convert nitrogen gas into ammonia |
| nitrification | converting NH3 (ammonia) into NO3 (nitrates) |
| ammonification | converting organism wastes into ammonia (NH3) |
| denitrification | converting nitrates (NO3) into nitrogen gas (N2) |
