| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment |
| biotic | living factors in the environment |
| abiotic | nonliving factors in the environment |
| population | a group of individuals of the same species that live together in the same area at the same time |
| community | all of the populations of different species that live and interact in an area |
| ecosystem | a community of organisms and their nonliving environment |
| biosphere | the part of the Earth where life exists |
| herbivore | a consumer that eats plants |
| carnivore | a consumer that eats animals |
| scavenger | an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead animals |
| food chain | a diagram that represents how the energy in food molecules flows from one organism to the next |
| food web | a complex diagram representing the many energy pathways in a real ecosystem |
| energy pyramid | a diagram shaped like atriangle showing the loss of energy at each level of a food chain |
| habitat | the environment where an organism lives |
| niche | an organism's way of life and relationships with its abiotic and biotic community |
| carrying capacity | the largest population that a given environment can support ove a long period of time |
| prey | an organism that is eaten by another organism |
| predator | an organism that eats other organisms |
| symbiosis | a close, long-term association between 2 or more species |
| mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
| commensalism | a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
| parasitism | a symbiotic association in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed (but not usually killed) |
| coevolution | long-term changes that take place in two species because of their close interactions with one another |
| omnivore | a consumer that eats a variety or organisms |
