| Term | Definition |
|---|
| parasite | an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant) |
| host | an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite |
| commensalism | a relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
| mutualism | the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent |
| symbiosis | the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent |
| parasitism | the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it (usually not fatal damage) |
| decomposer | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
| carrying capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support |
| producer | an organism that makes its own food |
| consumer | organisms that obtain food by eating other organisms |
| herbivore | eats only plants |
| omnivore | an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances |
| carnivore | Meat eater |
| ecology | the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment |
| ecosystem | collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment |
| community | (ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other |
| adaptation | inherited characteristic that increases an organism's chance of survival |
| predator | animal that hunts and eats other animals |
| prey | animal hunted or caught for food |
| food chain | a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| food web | (ecology) a community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains |
| biotic | the living organisms in an ecosystem |
| abiotic | any nonliving component of an environment |
| biosphere | part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area |
| energy pyramid | a diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
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