Ecology part 1
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16 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abiotic | nonliving parts of the environment |
| autotroph | an organism that produces its own food; the source of energy for all other living things on Earth |
| biome | large groups of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms; examples include the tundra, taiga, temperate forest, chaparral, tropical rain forest, desert, temperate grassland, tropical savanna grassland, and polar and high-mountain ice |
| biosphere | all of Earth's ecosystems, collectively; the biologically inhabited portions of Earth, including all of the water, land, and air in which organisms survive |
| biotic | the living parts of the environment |
| decomposer | an organism, generally a bacterium or fungus, that consumes dead organisms and organic waste |
| ecology | the study of how living things interact with one another and with their environment |
| ecosystem | all the living and nonliving things that interact in a specific area; a subdivision of the environment |
| heterotroph | organism that cannot make its own food; a consumer |
| limiting factor | any factor in the environment that limits the size of a population |
| niche | the specific role played by an organism in its ecosystem |
| population | all the individuals of a single species that live in a specific area |
| scavenger | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| secondary succession | a type of change that occurs when a disturbance empties an existing habitat without destroying the soil |
| Carrying Capacity | the largest population of single species that an area can support |
| Homeostasis | the ability of an organism to maintain a stable internal environment even when the external environment changes |
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