| A | B |
|---|
| organism | a single member of any species |
| population | a group of a single species in an area |
| community | a group of populations in one area |
| Ecosystem | a community, plus it’s non-living (Abiotic) environment |
| Biosphere | all regions of the planet inhabited by living things |
| Habitat | the place a population lives |
| Niche | the role of the population in the environment. (What you eat, What you do.) |
| autotrophs | organisms that make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. (Plants) |
| heterotrophs | organisms that must consume other organisms to get food |
| Consumers | organisms that eat other organisms for food |
| decomposers | an organism that breaks down organic material and returns nutrients to the soil. (bacteria, fungi) |
| abiotic | non-living components of an environment |
| biotic | living components of an environment |
| producers | the autotrophs that capture the Sun’s energy to make food. (plants) |
| primary consumers | heterotrophs that eat autotrophs. (herbivores) |
| secondary consumers | heterotrophs that eat other heterotrophs. (Carnivores) |
| tertiary consumers | Carnivores that eat other carnivores |
| food chain | a specific energy pathway |
| food web | complex energy interactions in an ecosystem; several food chains connected |
| scavenger | a heterotroph that consumes mostly decaying biomass |
| carnivore | a heterotroph that eats only meat |
| herbivore | a heterotroph that eats only plants |
| omnivore | a heterotroph that eats both plants and animals |
