Flashcards: Vocabulary Set #12
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Created by:
titansforever on January 17, 2012
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Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 ecology | the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their environment |
| biotic | describes living elements in the environment |
| abiotic | describes the nonliving part of the environment, including water, rocks, light and temperature |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
| community | all the populations of species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other |
| ecosystem | a community of organisms and their abiotic environment |
| biosphere | the part of Earth where life exists |
| herbivore | an organism that eats only plants |
| carnivore | an organism that eats animals |
| omnivore | an organism that eats both plants and animals |
| food chain | the pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of organisms |
| food web | a diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem |
| energy pyramid | : a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem's loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the ecosystem's food chain |
| carrying capacity | the largest population that an environment can support at any given time |
| prey | an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism |
| predator | : an organism that eats all or part of another organism |
| symbiosis | a relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other |
| mutualism | a relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | a relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected |
| parasitism | a relationship between two species in which one species, the parasite, benefits from the other species, the hose, which is harmed |