Schlecker Bio Chapter 2
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cschlecker on May 13, 2012
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20 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 autotroph | organism that use energy from the sun or energy stored in chemical compounds to manfacture their own nutrients. |
| heterotroph | organism that cannot make its own food and must feed on other organisms for energy and nutrients. |
| decomposers | organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, that break down and absorb nutrients from dead organisms. |
| food chain | simple model that shows how matter and energy move through an ecosystem. |
| trophic level | organism that represents a feeding step in the movement of energy and materials through an ecosystem. |
| food web | model that shows all the possible feeding relationships at each trophic level in a community. |
| ecology | scientific sudy of interactions between organisms and their environments. |
| biosphere | portion of Earth that supports life; extends from high in the atmospphere to the bottom of the oceans. |
| abiotic factor | nonliving parts of an organism's environment; air currents, temperature, moisture, light, and soil are examples. |
| biotic factor | all the living organisms that inhabit an environment. |
| population | group of organisms all of the same species, which interbreed and live in the same place at the same time. |
| biological community | a community made up of interacting populations in a certain area at a certain time. |
| ecosystem | interactions among populations in a community; the community's physical surroundings or abiotic factors. |
| habitat | place where an organism livesout its life. |
| niche | role or position a species has in its its needs for survival and reproduction. |
| symbiosis | permanent, close association between two or more organisms of different species. |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor benefited. |
| mutualism | a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit. |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another, usually another species. |
| biomass | the total mass or weight of all living matter in a given area. |
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