1. 8th Grade Ecology -- Relationships Unit

2. Abiotic
Non living
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Technical Definition: Referring to the nonliving part of the environment.

3. Biotic Living or materials that have had life.
Technical Definition: Referring to the part of the environment that is made up of organisms.
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4. Predator An organism which hunts other organisms for food.
Technical Definition: An organism that lives by preying on other organisms.
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5. Prey An animal hunted or caught for food.
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6. Producer Any plant, such as grass, flowers, or trees.
Technical Definition: An organism that obtains energy by making its own food (plants).
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7. Consumer An organism that eats other organisms as food.
Technical Definition: An organism that obtains energy by eating other organisms.
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8. Parasite
An organism, such as this tape worm, that steals nutrients from another organism.
Technical Definition: An organism that lives on or in a different kind of organism from
which it gets some or all of its nourishment.
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9. Host Organism that supports a parasite.
Technical Definition: The animal or plant on which or in which another organism lives.
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10. Organism Any living thing, such as a plant or animal.
Technical Definition: An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium,
protist, or fungus.
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11. Population
A group of the same type of organism that lives in the same area.
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Technical Definition: A group of organisms of the same species that live together in the same area.

12. Ecosystem All of the biotic and abiotic parts of an area.
Technical Definition: All of the populations of different species that live in the same area
along with the nonliving environment.
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13. Food Web Several overlapping food chains.
Technical Definition: Overlapping food chains with different pathways for the flow of food energy in an ecosystem.
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14. Food Chain A model of how energy moves from producers to consumers.
Technical Definition: The path of food energy from one organism to another in an ecosystem.
Image from: Technical Definition: Student Definition: Glossary, Science Access, page 315.