| A | B |
|---|
| ecosystem | An interwoven system of living and nonliving factors that interact through nutrient cycles and energy flows. |
| habitat | The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. |
| community | The total of all populations of living things within an area that interact with one another. |
| organism | An individual living thing, such as a plant, animal, fungus, or bacterium. |
| population | The total number of individuals of the same species that interact with one another. |
| energy | Energy is transferred between organisms in food webs from producers to consumers. The energy is used by organisms to carry out complex tasks. Most energy that exists in food webs originates from the sun and is converted (transformed) into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis in plants. |
| matter | Substances that make up the universe. All matter has mass and volume. |
| biotic | A living component of an ecosystem. |
| abiotic | All of the non-living things in an ecosystem. |
| species | A group of living organisms that interbreed with one another. |
| producers | An organism that can make its own food using light or chemical energy. (ex: plants and photosynthesis) |
| consumers | An organism that gets its energy from eating other organisms. |
| biome | Regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature) animals and plants. |
| niche | A habitat supplying the necessary factors for existence. |
| producer | An organism that can make its own food. |
| consumer | An organism that gets its energy from eating other organisms. |
| decomposer | An organism that recycles dead organisms into nutrients used in an ecosystem. |
| predator | An animal that naturally preys on others. |
| prey | An animal that is hunted and killed by another for food. |
| host | An animal or plant on or in which a parasite lives. |
| parasite | An organism that lives in or on another organism and benefits by getting nutrients at the host's expense. |
| herbivore | An animal that eats only plants. |
| carnivore | An animal that eats only meat. |
| omnivore | An animal that eats both plants and animals. |
| scavenger | An animal that eats the bodies of dead organisms. |
| marine ecosystem | An ecosystem in salt water. |
| terrestrial ecosystem | An ecosystem on land. |
| fresh water ecosystem | An ecosystem in a river, stream, pond or lake. |
