| A | B |
|---|
| Abiotic | refers to nonliving things in the environment. |
| Adapt | to alter or adjust to fit new conditions and uses. |
| Aesthetic | something which is pleasant or beautiful in color, texture, or general appearance. |
| Biodegradable | capable of being broken down by natural means into reusable parts. |
| Biomass | the total quantity of living organisms of all the species in a community at a given time. |
| Biotic | refers to the living parts of the environment. |
| Carnivore | an animal that uses other animals as a food source. |
| Carrying Capacity | the maximum population that a given ecosystem can support indefinitely. |
| Climax Community | the kind of community capable of living continuously under the climatic conditions in a certain area. |
| Community | all the plants and animals in a particular habitat that are bound together by food chains and other interactions that are self-perpetuating. |
| Competition | an interaction between members of the same population or two populations resulting from a greater demand than supply for a mutually-required resource. |
| Conservation | the intelligent use of natural resources to assure their continuing availability. |
| Consumer | an organism which ingests other organisms or organic matter. |
| Decomposer | microconsumers; e.g., bacteria and fungi. |
| Density | number of organisms per unit of space. |
| Diversity | number of different species in an area; usually greatest with a stable or climax community. |
| Omnivore | an animal that can use both plants and other animals as food sources. |
| pH | the acidity or alkalidity of water or soil. |
| Photosynthesis | the process by which green plants manufacture sugar and starch and oxygen, using carbon dioxide, water, and the energy of the sun. |
| Population | groups of individuals of any one kind of organism. |
| Population Density | number of organisms per any given area of land. |
| Predation | a population interaction ini which one organism (predator) kills and eats another organism (prey). |
| Producer | organism capable of carrying out photosynthesis. |
| Recycling | the recovery and reuse of resources. |
| Renewable Resource | a resource in which the materials as well as organisms are "reassembled" as fast as they are dispersed. |
| Resource | biologically, everything of natural origin, living and non-living, which humans use and enjoy. |
| Specialization | refers to an organism, or part thereof, that is adapted to a particular kind of life or to certain combination of environmental conditions. |
| Species | a single, distinct kind of plant or animal that has certain distinguishing characteristics. |
| Stability Principle | the concept that any natural system tends to change until it has developed a resistance to change. |
