Ecology & the Environment
Chapter 20 Ecology Study of the interactions that take place among organisms and their environment.
Chapter 20 Biotic Living parts of the environment; plants animals & microorganisms
Chapter 20 Abiotic Non-living parts of the environment; water, air, light, rocks
Chapter 20 Consumer Organism that cannot create energy- rich molecules (glucose) but obtains its food by eating other organisms
Chapter 20 Producer An organism, such as a plant or alga, which produces glucose from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis and is a source of food for other organisms
Chapter 20 Carnivore Animals who hunt and eat other animals; meat eater
Chapter 20 Omnivore An organism that eats both plants and animals
Chapter 20 Herbivore An animal that eats plants
Chapter 20 Food Chain The relationship between plants and animals that shows who eats what. Energy is transferred from one organism to another through the food chain
Chapter 20 Food Web A model of feeding relationships, describing the connections among all food chains within an ecosystem
Chapter 20 Energy Pyramid A representation of the loss of useful energy at each step in a food chain
Chapter 20 Pyramid of Numbers Based on the number of organisms needed to make a simple food chain. Shows how large populations of certain organisms are needed to support very small populations of other organisms.
Chapter 20 Symbiosis An interactive association between two or more species living together; may be parasitic, commensal, or mutualistic. The relationship between two organisms
Chapter 20 Commensalism A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other is not affected
Chapter 20 Parasitism A form of symbiosis in which the population of one species benefits at the expense of the population of another species
Chapter 20 Mutualism A symbiotic interaction between two species in which both derive some benefit
Chapter 20 Competition One of the biological interactions that can limit population growth; occurs when two species vie with each other for the same resource
Chapter 20 Population All the organisms that belong to the same species living in a community
Chapter 20 Community All the populations of different species that live in an ecosystem
Chapter 20 Habitat Place where an organism lives and that provides the types of food, shelter, moisture, and temperature needed for survival
Chapter 20 Niche An organism’s place in the ecosystem: where it lives, what it consumes, what consumes it, and how it interacts with all biotic and abiotic factors. A unique ecological role of an organism in a community.
Chapter 20 Organism Any living thing
Chapter 20 Biosphere Part of Earth that supports life, including the top portion of Earth's crust, the atmosphere, and all the water on Earth's surface
Chapter 20 Ecosystem All the living organisms that live in an area and the nonliving features of their environment
Chapter 20 Limiting Factor Anything that can restrict the size of a population, including living and nonliving features of an ecosystem, such as predators or drought
Chapter 20 Carrying Capacity Largest number of individuals of a particular species that an ecosystem can support over time
Chapter 20 Predator An animal that kills and eats other animals
Chapter 20 Prey An animal that is killed and eaten by another animal