| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | the study of the interactions between organisms & their environment |
| biotic | describes living factors in the environment |
| abiotic | describes nonliving factors in the environment |
| population | a group of individuals of the same species that live together in the same area at the same time |
| community | all of the populations of different species that live and interact in an area |
| ecosystem | a community of organisms & its abiotic environment |
| biosphere | the part of the Earth where life exists |
| organism | a living being |
| herbivore | a consumer that eats plants |
| carnivore | a consumer that eats animals (meat) |
| omnivore | a consumer that eats both plants & animals |
| scavenger | an animal that feeds on the bodies of dead animals |
| food chain | a diagram that shows how the energy in food molecules flows from 1 organism to the next |
| decomposer | an organism that gets energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms or animal wastes & consuming or absorbing the nutrients |
| food web | a diagram that shows the many energy pathways in a real ecosystem |
| habitat | the environment where an organism lives |
| niche | an organism's way of life & its relationship with its abiotic and biotic environments |
| energy pyramid | a diagram shaped like a triangle that shows the loss of energy at each level of the food chain |
| parasite | organism that benefits when another organism is harmed |
| mutualism | relationship where both organisms benefit |
