| A | B |
|---|
| Ecosystem | All living and nonliving things in an environment, including their interactions with each other |
| population | all the members of one species in an area |
| community | all the living things in one ecosystem |
| food chain | the path that energy and nutrients follow in an ecosystem |
| food web | the overlapping food chains in an ecosystem |
| predator | an animal that hunts other animals for food |
| prey | a living thing that is hunted for food |
| energy pyramid | a diagram that shows the amount of energy available at each level of an ecosystem |
| limiting factor | anything that cotrols the growth or survival of a popupation |
| carrying capacity | the maximum population size that a ecosystem can support |
| habitat | the place where a plant or an animal lives and grows |
| niche | the role of an organism in an ecosystem |
| symbiosis | a relationship between two kinds of organisms over time |
| mutualism | a relationship between two kinds of organisms that benefits both |
| commensalism | a relationship between two kinds of organisms that benefits one without harming the other |
| parasitism | a relationship in which one organism lives in or on another organism and benefits from that relationship while the host organism is harmed by it |
| adaptation | a characteristic that helps an organism to survive in its environment |
| camouflage | an adaptation in which an animal protects itself against predators by blending in with the environment |
| protective coloration | a type of camouflage in which the color of an animal blends in with its background, protecting the animal against predators |
| protective resemblance | a type of camouflage in which the color and the shape of an animal blends in with its background, protecting it against predators |
| mimicry | an adaptation in which an animal is protected agains predators by its resemblance to another, unpleasant animal |
| carnivores | animals that eat other animals |
| herbivores | animals that eat producers; plant eaters |
| decomposers | organisms that help break down dead or decaying plant and animal material |
| omnivores | animals that eat both plants and animals |
| scavengers | a consumer that eats the remains of dead animals that it did not hunt or kill |
| consumers | any animal that eats plants or other animals |
| producers | organisms that use the Sun's energy to make sugar and oxygen. They are the base of of every food chain. |
| biotic factors | living things in an ecosystem |
| abiotic factors | the nonliving things in an ecosystem |
| behavioral adaptation | Adjustment in an organisms behavior |
| structural adaptation | adjustments to internal or external physical structure of an organism. |
