| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | __the study of the relationships among living things and their environment |
| biosphere | the area of the earth that supports life |
| abiotic factors | rock, soil, water, temperature, pH, nutrients, weather |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species that occupy the same geographic area |
| community | several different populations of organism interacting with one another |
| habitat | the place where an organism lives |
| niche | __role and position a species has in its environment including all abiotic and biotic |
| symbiosis | organisms of different species that live together in a close, long-term or permanent |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship where both species benefit in the relationship |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship; one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship; one species benefits and the other is harmed |
| autotroph | an organism that makes its food from light or chemical energy |
| producer | another name for autotroph |
| consumer | another name for a heterotroph |
| biotic factors | the living things in an environment such as animals, plants, fungi, bacteria |
| heterotroph | an organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms |
| herbivore | an organism that eats only plants |
| carnivore | an organism that eats only meat |
| omnivore | an organism that eats both plants and meat |
| decomposers | organisms, such as fungi, that break down and absorb nutrients from dead organisms |
| scavengers | animals that feed on other animals that are already dead |
| predators | animals that kill and eat other animals |
| prey | animals that are killed and eaten by other animals |
| biology | the study of living things |
| biome | a unique set of abiotic factors – particularly climate- which produce a characteristic ecological community |
| organism | anything that possesses all of the characteristics of life; something that is living |
| ecosystems | interactions among populations in a community and its physical surroundings or abiotic factors |
