Vocabulary List Year 7 Unit 6 - Ecology

ecostystem

all the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and the environment

enivronment

The air, water, and land in or on which people, animals, and plants live. The conditions that affect a plant or animal in a habitat

habitiat

The natural environment in which an animal or plant usually lives

abiotic factor

Non-living factors in the environment

biotic factor

Living factors in the environment

food chain

The flow of energy from organism to organism in a series of feeding relationships.

food web

The relationship between all the living things in a particular area, when thinking about how they eat each other.

producer

An organism that can manufacture their food (e.g. by the process of photosynthesis)

consumer

Organism that must eat other organisms to get energy and nutrients they need.

herbivore

An organism that consumes (eats) plants

carnivore

Organism that consumes (eats) meat.

omnivore

An organism that consumes (eats) plants and meat.

interdependence

Depending on each other for survival

predator

An animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals

prey

An animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal

competition

A situation in which the various organisms living in the same area try to compete for a limited supply of food, water, space

commensalism

A relationship between two species in which one gets an advantage from living closely with the other and the other is not affected by it

Mutualism

A relationship between two organisms in which they live together and benefit each other

parasitism

A relationship between two organisms in which one benefits and the other is harmed

host

A plant or animal that another plant or animal lives on as a parasite.

parasite

An animal or plant that lives on or in another animal or plant of a different typeand feeds from it

Cell

building blocks of living things, they are microscopic

abiotic factors are things like temperature, sunlight, soil, and water, these help the biotic factors to survive.

How do abiotic factors influence the biotic factors?

Autotroph

can produce its own food

heterotroph

can’t produce its own food.

tertiary consumer

animals that eat other animals

what do the arrows show in a food web

The way in which energy flows

predator-prey interaction

when a predator eats its prey

Deforestation, urbanisation, and agriculture can drastically alter natural habitats can lead to the loss of certain species.

How can human activities affect interactions in food chains and food webs?

structural adaptation

Special physical features that make an organism well-suited to the environment it lives in.

physiological adaptation

Internal and/or cellular features of an organism that enable them to survive in their environment.

behavioural adaptation

something an animal does usually in response to some type of external stimulus in order to survive.