ecology vocab

abiotic

nonliving aspects of an environment

biotic

living aspects of an environment

producers

organisms that make food for themselves, autotrophs

consumers

organisms that rely on other organisms for food, 3 types of consumers are herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, heterotrophs

autotrophs

organisms that make food for themselves, producers

heterotrophs

organisms that rely on other organisms for food, consumers

herbivores

animals that eat plants

carnivores

animals that eat other animals

niche

role of the species in an environment, explains the species interaction with biotic and abiotic factors

habitat

environment in which a species lives and adapts to

competitive exclusion principle

two species cannot coexist if they have the same niche (so they compete)

trophic level

levels of hierarchy in an ecosystem: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer

decomposers

break down waste and release energy back into the environment

population

all individual organisms of the same species that live and interact in the same area

community

the population of different species that live and interact in the same area

ecosystem

all living and nonliving things in an environment

biome

group of similar ecosystems with the same type of physical environment (aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, tundra)

species

a class of a group of the same types of organisms

organism

a living thing

mutualism

(+/+) relationship in which both individuals from both species benefit

commensalism

(+/0) relationship in which one species benefits while the other species remains unaffected

parasitism

(+/-) relationship in which the parasite controls the host

predation

relationship in which the predator consumes the prey