| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abiotic | nonliving; not derived from living organisms;inorganic |
| Adaptation | a behavior or trait that increases a species chance of survival in a specific environment;the process of adapting |
| Biodiversity | the number and variety of living things in an environment |
| Biotic | of or having to do with life or living organisms; organic |
| Carrying capacity | an ecosystem's resource limit; the maximum number of individuals in a population that the ecosystem can support |
| Community | a group of plants and animals living and interacting with one another in a particular place |
| Compete | the act of actively seeking after and using an environmental resource(such as food) in limited supply by two or more plants or animals or kinds of plants or animals |
| Conservation | the wise use of natural resources such that their use is sustainable long term;includes protection,preservation,management,restoration and harvest of natural resources;prevents exploitation,pollution,destruction,neglect and waste of natural resources |
| Consumer | an organism that feeds on other organisms in a food chain |
| Decomposer | an organism such a bacterium or fungus that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, making essential components available to plants and other organisms in the ecosystem |
| Ecosystem | a community of organisms together with their physical environment and the relationships between them |
| Erosion | the gradual wearing away of land surface materials, rock,soils, action of wind, water, ice and movement of materials from their location |
| Floodplain | the flat land on both sides of a stream,into which the stream's extra water spreads during a flood |
| Food chain | a series of plants and animals linked by their feeding relationships and showing the transfer of food energy form one organism to another |
| Food web | many interconnected food chains within an ecological community |
| Groundwater | water that flows or collects beneath the earth's surface in saturated soil or aquifers |
| Habitat | the natural environment in which an organism normally lives, including the surroundings |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace