1. Ecology

2. Study of the Interactions between Organisms and the Nonliving Components of their Environment

3. Levels of Organization Organism- a single life form

4. Population Population- all the organisms of the same species living in one place at one time

5. Community Community- all of the populations in one area at one time

6. Habitat Habitat- the physical location of the community

7. Ecosystem Ecosystem- All the living and the non-living things in an area (as small as your back yard or as big as the world).

8. Diversity Diversity- measure of the number of different species there are in an area (Ecosystems flourish more with more diversity)

9. Niche Niche- an organism’s role in the community (like a job) (ex. How it gets food, how it finds shelter, etc)

10. Generalist Generalists- species with broad niches, who can tolerate many conditions (ex cats, roaches)

11. Specialists Specialists- Species that have narrow Niches, who can only tolerate certain conditions. (ex. Koala and Panda)

12. Abiotic Factors Abiotic factors- non-living factors in the ecosystem Ex. Sunlight, Climate, Chemicals, etc

13. Biotic Factors Biotic factors- living components of an ecosystem Interactions between organisms can affect the ecosystem

14. Competition competition- two species or organisms struggling for the same resource (- and -) (ex. lions and hyenas.)

15. Mutualism Symbiosis- organisms living in a close relationship mutualism- two species cooperating (+ and +) (ex. bees and flowers, hippos and fish)

16. Commensalism commensalism- one species benefits from another, the other species is not affected (+ and no affect) ex. Sea anemones and clown fish

17. Predation predation- one species hunting and eating another (+ and -) leopards and gazelles

18. Parasitism parasitism- one species benefits from another, the other species is harmed (+ and -) (dogs and ticks, humans and tape worms)