| Term | Definition |
|---|
| ecology | study of interactions between organisms and their environment |
| ecosystem | all the organisms in a particular location, including their non-living environment |
| species | two organisms that are so similar they can interbreed in nature and produce fertile offspring |
| population | members of a species in a defined area |
| biosphere | part of Earth that living organisms inhabit |
| community | populations of different organisms living in a defined area |
| autotroph | organism that makes its own food using sunlight or chemicals; producer |
| producer | organism that makes its own food using sunlight or chemicals; autotroph |
| photosynthesis | using sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food (carbohydrates) |
| chemosynthesis | using inorganic chemicals to make food (carbohydrates) |
| heterotroph | organism that relies on other organisms for food; consumer |
| consumer | organism that relies on other organisms for food; heterotroph |
| herbivore | consumer that eats plants |
| carnivore | consumer that eats animals or meat |
| omnivore | consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| decomposer | organism that breaks down and absorbs nutrients from dead organisms |
| detritivore | organism that feeds on animal and plant remains that it did not capture; scavenger |
| food chain | series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| food web | network of all the food chains in an ecosystem |
| trophic level | step in a food chain, food web, or ecological pyramid |
| energy pyramid | diagram that shows the energy available to each trophic level in an ecosystem; 10% is passed on to upper levels, the rest is lost as heat |
| biogeochemical cycle | process in which nutrients are recycled through the biosphere, ex. carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous |
| evaporation | process by which liquid water turns into a gas (water vapor) when heated |
| transpiration | evaporation of water from plant leaves |
| nutrient | chemical that an organism needs to live |
| nitrogen fixation | process in which bacteria convert nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds plants can use to make proteins |
| denitrification | conversion of nitrates in the soil by bacteria into nitrogen gas |
| greenhouse effect | heat reatined by the the gases of the Earth's atmosphere to maintain the Earth's temperature range |
| biotic factor | living factors or organisms that affect an ecosystem |
| abiotic factor | non-living factor that affects an ecosystem |
| habitat | where an organism lives |
| resource | anything that an organism needs to live, ex. food, water, space |
| predation | interaction in which one organism hunts, captures, and feeds on another organism |
| symbiosis | relationship in which two species live closely together |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
| commensalism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is not affected |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed |
| population density | number of individuals per unit area |
| immigration | individuals joining a population |
| emigration | individuals leaving a population |
| carrying capacity | largest number of individuals of a population that the environment can support |
| invasive (non-native) species | plants and animals that have migrated to areas where they did not originate; often displace native species by outcompeting them for resources |
| biodiversity | the variety of all living things in the biosphere |
| cellular respiration | process that breaks down food to make ATP and releases carbon dioxide as waste |
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