| A | B |
|---|
| Abiotic | Nonliving factors in a habitat; i.e. soil |
| Adaptations | A behavior or physical characteristic that allows an organism to live successfully in its environment. |
| Biodiversity | The variety of living things in an area |
| Biotic | Living factors in a habitat |
| Birth Rate | The number of births during a specific set of time |
| Carnivore | A consumer that eats other animals |
| Carrion | The decaying flesh of dead animals enjoyed by scavengers |
| Carrying Capacity | Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support |
| Climatogram | Diagram that shows temperatures and precipitation amounts for a given location over an extended period of time |
| Commensalism | A relationship between two organisms of different species where one benefits and the other is neither harmed nor benefited |
| Community | All the living things in an ecosystem |
| Consumer | Organism that cannot make its own food; must eat other organisms for energy |
| Death Rate | The number of deaths during a specific set of time |
| Decomposer | An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms |
| Ecological diversity | Variety of forests |
| Ecology | Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment |
| Ecosystem | Consists of all the living and nonliving things in an area |
| Emigration | Occurs when organisms move out of a population |
| Food Web | A collection of all the food chains in an area; shows are organisms are connected through feeding relationships |
| Generalist species | Type of organism that eats a wide variety of foods; can survive in a wide range of environmental conditions |
| Genetic diversity | The range of genetic material present in a gene pool or population of a species. |
| Habitat | Place where an organism lives; provides food |
| Herbivore | A consumer that eats plants |
| Immigration | Occurs when organisms move into a population |
| Insectivore | A consumer that eats insects |
| Invasive species | Plants and animals that have moved or been relocated to places where they are not native |
| Limiting factors | Factors that help to control the size of a population |
| Mutualism | A relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
| Niche | An organism's particular role in an ecosystem |
| Omnivore | A consumer that eats animals and plants |
| Organism | Any living thing |
| Parasitism | A relationship between two organisms of different species where one benefits and the other is harmed |
| Phytoplankton | Microscopic plant life |
| Pioneer species | The first species to populate an area |
| Planktivore | A consumer that eats plankton |
| Population Density | Number of individuals per unit area; calculated by dividing the # of individuals by the area |
| Population | Group of organisms of the same species living in the same area |
| Predation | An interaction in which one organism kills another for food. |
| Predator | Organisms that hunts and kills its food |
| Prey | Organism that is hunted and killed for food |
| Primary succession | The series of changes that occur in an area where no soil or organisms exist |
| Producer | Organism that is able to make its own food; makes up the first level of any food chain or food web |
| Scavenger | A consumer that eats carrion (dead animals) |
| Secondary succession | The series of changes that occur in an area where the ecosystem has been disturbed |
| Specialist species | Type of organism that eats a limited number of foods; can only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet |
| Species diversity | The number and relative abundance of species in a biological community. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring. |
| Sun | Source of all the energy in an ecosystem; plants convert this to chemical energy using photosynthesis |
| Symbiosis | A close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species. |
| Temperature | Abiotic factor that determines what types of plants and animals can live in a specific habitat; i.e. hot or cold |
| Water | Abiotic factor that provides oxygen for some organisms; H2O |
| Zooplankton | Microscopic animal life |
