APES VOCAB

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): Total energy captured.

Net Primary Productivity (NPP): Energy remaining after respiration.

Food chain: A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass.

Food web: A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.

Symbiosis: Interaction between species that live in close physical proximity.

• Mutualism: Both species benefit.

• Commensalism: One species benefits, the other is unaffected.

• Parasitism: One species benefits, the other is harmed.

Predation: The act of one organism feeding on another.

Competition: Species competing for limited resources.

Ecological niche: The role an organism plays within its environment.

Biogeochemical cycles: The movements of matter through ecosystems (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, water cycles).

Limiting factors: Environmental conditions that limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of organisms.

Habitat: The natural home or environment of an organism.

Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular ecosystem or across the planet.

Keystone species: A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.