| A | B |
|---|
| biosphere | all regions of earth where organisms exist |
| ecosystem | interaction between abiotic and biotic factors in a community |
| community | the populations of species in a given area |
| population | a group of individuals of the same species in a given area |
| organism | an individual living thing |
| biotic factors | living matter/organisms inhabiting an environment |
| abiotic factors | nonliving parts of the environment |
| habitat | place where an organism lives |
| niche | role or job organism performs |
| biomass | the weight of living matter |
| producer | organism that makes its own food in a community |
| consumer | organism that obtains food from other sources |
| carnivore | consumer that feeds on other animals |
| herbivore | animal that feeds on producers |
| omnivore | animal that feeds on either producers or other animals |
| scavenger | animals that feed on other animals after they have died |
| decomposer | organisms that break down, absorb and recycle nutrients from dead organisms |
| trophic level | a feeding step in a food chain |
| detritivore | organism that feeds on garbage |
| carrion | dead or deacying matter |
| glucose | carbohydrate product of photosynthesis |
| ATP | high energy molecule that is useable by cells |
| symbiosis | a close, permanent relationship between two organisms |
| commensalism | a symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| mutualism | a symbiosis in which both organisms benefit |
| parasitism | a symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed |
| autotroph | an organism that uses energy from the sun to makes its own food |
| heterotroph | organisms that obtain energy from eating autotrophs and/or heterotrophs |
| coexistance | a relationship between organsims that share the same habitat but have different niches |
| competition | a relationship that exists when organisms of the same or different species share a niche |
| predator-prey | a relationship in which one organism serves as the primary food source for the other organism |
| nitrogen fixation | process in which gaseous nitrogen is converted to nitrate |
| nitrate | the form of nitrogen that is useable by producers |
| ammonification | process in which nitrogen waste material is converted into ammonia |
| denitrification | process in which nitrate in the soil is converted back into gaseous nitrogen which returns to the air |
| nitrification | process in which ammonia is converted into nitrate |
| legume | plants such as peas, beans and peanuts |
| nodule | a small knot or lump |
| coal | fossilized plant matter |
| oil (petroleum) | fossilized animal matter |
