habitats and interactions

Structural adaptation

Physical features of an organism that help it survive in its ecosystem

Physiological adaptation

An adaptation where an organism’s body does something automatically to survive

Behavioural adaptation

An adaptation where an organism’s behaviour has changed to survive in its surroundings

Adaptations

traits that organisms develop to help them survive in their environment

Producer

Organisms that create their own food using photosynthisis

Consumer

an organism that cannot create its own food and relies on other organisms for food

Organism

A single individual

Population

a group of the same species living and interacting together

Community

A grouping of different species living together and interacting

Ecosystem

All the biotic and abiotic interplay formed by a community of living things

Abiotic factors

Non-living things in an environment that organisms rely on

Biotic factors

Living things in an environment that organisms rely on

Ecosystem components

All living and non-living things in an area interacting

Symbiosis

Long-term interaction between two different species

Mutualism

A type of symbiosis where both species benefit

Commensalism

A type of symbiosis where one benefits and the other is unaffected

Parasitism

A type of symbiosis where one benefits and the other is harmed

Competition

Organisms fight for the same resources

Predator

An animal that hunts others

Prey

An animal that is hunted

Herbivore

Eats plants

Carnivore

Eats animals

Omnivore

Eats both plants and animals

Decomposer

organisms that Breaks down dead material into nutrients

Food chain

a model that shows how energy moves from one living thing to another

Food web

A complex network of intersecting food chains that shows feeding relationships and energy transfer within an ecosystem

Roles in food chain

Producers, consumers, decomposers

Fuel-reduction burning

a planned fire used to reduce the amount of fuel in a given area

Floods (benefits)

Deposit nutrients on floodplains and support breeding cycles

Floods (harms)

Wash away habitat, cause pollution and species loss

Ecological effects of fires

Can recycle nutrients, create new habitats, and remove invasive species