| A | B |
|---|
| energy pyramid | a model that shows the amount of energy at each level of a food web |
| community | all of the populations in an ecosystem |
| population | all the members of a species that live in an ecosystem |
| herbivores | animals that only eat plants |
| producers | are organisms that make their own food using the energy in sunlight and are at the base of every food chain |
| ecosystem | can be as small as a log or as big as a forest |
| habitat | has its own place to live |
| biotic factors | living things in an environment, such as frogs |
| abiotic factors | nonliving things in an environment, such as a rock |
| decomposer | organisms that break down wastes and the remains of other organisms into simpler substances |
| consumers | organisms who cannot make their own food and eat other organisms to get energy |
| ecosystem | the biotic and abiotic factors of an environment |
| food web | the food chains that overlap in an ecosystem |
| food chain | the path that energy takes from one organism to another in the form of food |
| competition | the struggle among living things for water, food, or other resources |
| predator | an animal that hunts other animals for food |
| prey | oranisms eaten by other animals |
| limiting factor | any resource that restricts the growth of populations |
| carrying capacity | the greatest number of individuals within a population tht an exosystem can support |
| niche | a special role an organism plays in a community |
| symbiosis | a relationship between two or more kinds of organisms that lasts over time |
| mutualism | a relationship that benefits both organisms |
| commensalism | a relationship that benefits one organism without harming the other |
| parasitism | a relationship that benefits one organism and the other is harmed |
| adaptation | any characteristic that helps an organism survive in its environment (behaviorial or structural) |
| camouflage | adaptation that allows an organism to blend in to its environment |
| protective coloration | a type of camouflage |
| protective resemblance | matching the color, the shape, and texture of an environment |
| mimicry | adaptation when one kind of living thing looks like another kind |
| omnivores | animals that eat plants and other animals |
| carnivores | animals that eat and other animals |
| interdependence | when organisms rely on other organisms for their survival |
| lichen | two different organisms, a fungus and an alga, that live together |
| dysentery | a disease that enters the body through contaminated food or water and causes sleeping sickness |
| parasite | organism that lives in or on another organism, such as a tick |
| hibernation | a long period of inactivity, such as a bear sleeping all winter |
| nocturnal | animals that are active only at night |
