Ecology: What Shapes an Ecosystem?

Vocabulary study cards covering biotic and abiotic factors, niches, community interactions, and ecological succession.

Biotic factors

All the living things with which an organism might interact.

Abiotic factors

Physical, or nonliving, factors that shape ecosystems, such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, nutrient availability, soil type, and sunlight.

Habitat

The area where an organism lives, including both biotic and abiotic factors.

Niche

The full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions.

Competition

An interaction that occurs when organisms of the same or different species attempt to use an ecological resource in the same place at the same time.

Resource

Any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food, or space.

Competitive exclusion principle

A rule stating that no two species can occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time.

Predation

An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism.

Predator

The organism that kills and eats another organism.

Prey

The organism that is eaten in a predation interaction.

Symbiosis

Any relationship in which two species live closely together.

Mutualism

A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

Commensalism

A symbiotic relationship in which one member benefits, and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Parasitism

A symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on or inside another organism and harms it.

Ecological succession

A series of predictable changes that occurs in a community over time.

Primary succession

Succession on land that occurs on surfaces where no soil exists.

Pioneer species

The first species to populate an area.

Secondary succession

Succession that occurs when a disturbance is over, where community interactions tend to restore the ecosystem to its original condition.