Unit 7&8- Ecology, Human Impact on the Environment

Terms	Definitions
Abiotic	any nonliving component of an environment
Biotic	Pertaining to life; environmental factors created by living organisms
Competition	the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources
Niche	(ecology) the status of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species)
Environment	the area in which something exists or lives
Herbivore	An organism that eats only plants
Parasite	An organism that lives off another organism
Producer	an organism that makes its own food
Deforestation	the removal of trees
Global Warming	an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes)
Ozone Shield	the layer of ozone gas in the upper atmosphere that protects Earth from some of the Sun's radiation
Recycle	to put wastes, garbage, or the like, through a cycle of purification and conversion to useful products
Autotroph	an organism that makes its own food
Carnivore	any animal that feeds on flesh
Consumer	organism that relies on other organisms for its energy and food supply; also called a heterotroph
Ecological Succession	(ecology) the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established
Food Chain	a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
Heterotroph	an organism that cannot make its own food
Population	the people who inhabit a territory or state
Scavenger	any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter