| A | B |
|---|
| Abiotic | Non-living parts of an ecosystem |
| Biotic | Living parts of an ecosystem |
| Food chain | Pathway which energy follows from producer to consumer |
| Producer | base of the food chain; Organism that is capable of making its own food |
| Consumer | Organism that relies on producers as a food source |
| mutualism | interaction of species where both benefit |
| commensalism | interaction of species where one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed |
| parasitism | interaction of species where an organism feeds in or on a host, causing the host harm |
| Carrying capacity | Number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem can support |
| Succession | Sequential replacement of populations in an ecosystem |
| Biome | Geographic area with characteristic plants, animals,& climate |
| Ecosystem | All the biotic and abiotic parts of an environment |
| Ecology | Study of organisms and their environment |
| Biosphere | Area on and around earth where life exists |
| Community | All the populations in an area |
| Population | All the members of a species in an area |
| Species | Group of organisms capable of producing fertile offspring in the natural environment |
| Herbivore | Animals that eat only plants |
| Carnivore | Animals that eat only other animals |
| Omnivore | Animals that eat both plants and animals |
| 10% | amount of energy passed to each trophic level |
| limiting factors | things that can limit the size of a population, such as nutrients availability, disease, or natural disasters |
| nitrogen fixing bacteria | turn atmospheric nitrogen gas into compounds organisms can use |
| growth factors | birth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration |
| decomposer | breaks dead materials and returns nutrients into the ecosystem |
| primary succession | when ecosystems begin where life has not existed before--glacier receding, lave cooling in ocean |
| secondary succession | ecosystems replacing one another when a previous ecosystem is destroyed; forest fire or flood |
| ozone layer | the thinning of this is allowing more harmful UV rays to damage ecosystems and organisms |
| greenhouse gases | increasing of CO2 levels causing Earth's temperature to increase |
| exotic species | species that is not native to an area, often causing damage to the native species |
| eutrophication | increased nutrients cause algae bloom, reducing oxygen levels in lakes or ponds |
