Science Vocab 3.3

Abiotic

all of the nonliving parts of an ecosystem

Antibiotic

a chemical that kills or inhibits growth of bacteria

Biomass

the mass of dried living matter in a given area or volume of habitat

Biome

a major ecological community such as grassland, tropical rain forest, or desert

Biotic

all of the living parts of an ecosystem

Carnivore

an animal that eats only other animals

Carrying capacity

indicates the greatest number of any species that can indefinitely exist within a specific habitat without threatening the existence of other species also living in the habitat

Commensalism

a relationship between two species of a plant, animal, or fungus in which one lives with, on, or in the other without damage to either

Community

a group of different populations that live together and interact in an environment

Competition

the interaction between organisms or species that use the same resources in which the health of one is negatively affected by the presence of the other

Consumer

an organism that eats other living things to get energy; an organism that does not produce its own food

Decomposer

organisms which carry out the process of decomposition by breaking down dead or decaying organisms

Ecosystem

consists of  living and nonliving things in their environment, that interact with each other and with their environment.

Energy pyramid

a model that shows the available amount of energy in each trophic layer in an ecosystem

Food chain

a model that shows one set of feeding relationships among living things