Subject Here

1. Subject Here Ecology & the Environment

2. Ecology Study of the interactions that take place among organisms and their environment. Chapter 20

3. Biotic Living parts of the environment; plants animals & microorganisms Chapter 20

4. Abiotic Non-living parts of the environment; water, air, light, rocks Chapter 20

5. Consumer Organism that cannot create energy-rich molecules (glucose) but obtains its food by eating other organisms Chapter 20

6. Producer An organism, such as a plant or alga, which produces glucose from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis and is a source of food for other organisms Chapter 20

7. Carnivore Animals who hunt and eat other animals; meat eater Chapter 20

8. Omnivore An organism that eats both plants and animals Chapter 20

9. Herbivore An animal that eats plants Chapter 20

10. Food Chain The relationship between plants and animals that shows who eats what. Energy is transferred from one organism to another through the food chain Chapter 20

11. Food Web A model of feeding relationships, describing the connections among all food chains within an ecosystem Chapter 20

12. Energy Pyramid A representation of the loss of useful energy at each step in a food chain Chapter 20

13. Pyramid of Numbers Based on the number of organisms needed to make a simple food chain. Shows how large populations of certain organisms are needed to support very small populations of other organisms. Chapter 20

14. Symbiosis An interactive association between two or more species living together; may be parasitic, commensal, or mutualistic. The relationship between two organisms Chapter 20

15. Commensalism A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other is not affected Chapter 20

16. Parasitism A form of symbiosis in which the population of one species benefits at the expense of the population of another species Chapter 20

17. Mutualism A symbiotic interaction between two species in which both derive some benefit Chapter 20

18. Competition One of the biological interactions that can limit population growth; occurs when two species vie with each other for the same resource Chapter 20

19. Population All the organisms that belong to the same species living in a community Chapter 20

20. Community All the populations of different species that live in an ecosystem Chapter 20

21. Habitat Place where an organism lives and that provides the types of food, shelter, moisture, and temperature needed for survival Chapter 20

22. Niche An organism’s place in the ecosystem: where it lives, what it consumes, what consumes it, and how it interacts with all biotic and abiotic factors. A unique ecological role of an organism in a community. Chapter 20

23. Organism Any living thing Chapter 20

24. Biosphere Part of Earth that supports life, including the top portion of Earth's crust, the atmosphere, and all the water on Earth's surface Chapter 20

25. Ecosystem All the living organisms that live in an area and the nonliving features of their environment Chapter 20

26. Limiting Factor Anything that can restrict the size of a population, including living and nonliving features of an ecosystem, such as predators or drought Chapter 20

27. Carrying Capacity Largest number of individuals of a particular species that an ecosystem can support over time Chapter 20

28. Biotic Potential The maximum reproductive rate of an organism, given unlimited resources and ideal environmental conditions Chapter 20

29. Exponential Growth Growth of a population without any constraints; therefore, the population will grow at an ever-increasing rate Chapter 20

30. Photosynthesis The chemical reaction in which green plants combine water and carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight to form glucose and oxygen Chapter 20

31. Predator An animal that kills and eats other animals Chapter 20

32. Prey An animal that is killed and eaten by another animal Chapter 20