Ecosystem Vocabulary: Key Terms & Definitions for Earth Science

food chain

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

food web

a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

primary consumer

An organism that eats producers, aka herbivore

Producer

An organism that can make its own food.

secondary consumer

A carnivore that eats primary consumers

trophic levels

feeding levels in a food chain

Heat

one way that energy is lost in a food web

carrying capacity

The maximum population that an area can support

Community

All the different populations that live together in an area

competition

the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources

interactions

All the living and nonliving relationships that exist with an ecosystem

limiting factors

Any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts population growth

population

group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area

stability

when something stays mostly the same over time