- 2nd order or secondary consumer: Second link in the food chain, meat eater
- abiotic: all of the nonliving things in an environment
- adaptation: A behavior or body structure that allows an organism to survive.
- biome: Areas of the world that have similar climate, plant, and animal life
- biotic: Everything that is alive or ever was alive in an environment
- carnivore: meat eater
- climate: Refers to weather patterns over a long period of time (Temperature, precipitation, the amount of sunlight etc.)
- community: All of the different species of organisms living in one area at the same time
- conifer: A pine tree or evergreen tree.
- consumer: An organism that eats other organisms
- deciduous forest: A biome with four seasons, plants shed leaves in the fall and grow new ones in the spring.
- decomposer: An organism that gets energy from breaking down animal wastes and dead organisms
- desert: This biome gets very little water. Trees and grasses do not grow well here. Tends to be hot days and cold nights.
- ecosystem: All of the biotic and abiotic factors in an envrionment
- energy pyramid: A diagram showing the amount of energy that flows through an ecosystem
- environment: The surroundings in which an organism lives
- first order or primary consumer: First link in the food chain, plant eater
- food chain: Shows how energy is passed from one organism to another
- food web: Overlapping food chains
- grassland: A biome that is fairly dry. There is not enough water for trees to survive but grasses grow well here.
- habitat: The place where an organism lives and gets all of its needs met. (food, shelter, water, etc.)
- herbivore: plant eater
- latitude: How far north or south of the equator something is located.
- niche: The job or role an organism takes on in its environment
- omnivore: Eats both plants and meat
- population: all of the members of a single species living within an area
- predator: An organism that hunts other organisms
- prey: The hunted organism
- producer: An organism that makes its own food
- scavenger: An organism that eats the remains of dead animals
- taiga: A biome that has cold long winters and a short growing season. Conifers grow well in this area.
- temperate climate: A climate with four seasons. Cold winters and hot summers.
- top of the food chain: An organism that hunts others but does not get hunted
- tropical rainforest: In this biome it rains almost everyday. Temperatures are high with little difference between day and night temperatures. There are more organisms living here than anywhere else on Earth.
- tundra: An extremely cold biome, the land is frozen most of the year. Only small shrubs and low growing plants survive here