| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Autotroph | an organism that produces its own food.(Producer) |
| Hetertroph | an organism that can't produce its own food.(Consumer) |
| Ecology | the study of the relationships and interactions of living things with one another with their environment. |
| Ecosystem | all the living and non living things in a given area-can be as tiny as a drop of water or as large as an ocean or forest. |
| Abiotic factor | the non living parts of an ecosystem |
| Biotic factor | the living parts of an ecosystem. |
| Habitat | a place in which an organism lives- provides shelter, food, and other resources needed for survival. |
| Population | A group of organisms of the same species living together in the same area. |
| Species | A group of similar organisms that can produce fertile offspring. |
| Community | All the living organisms in an area. |
| Limiting factor | A factor in the environment that keeps a population from getting too big. |
| Caring Capacity | The largest population of a species that in environment can support. |
| Niche | In organisms role in an ecosystem. |
| Invasive species | A species that is not native to the area and who's spread causes environmental harm. |
| Trophic cascade | The secondary effect that part down the food chain after the removal of a top predator from an ecosystem. |
| Producer (autotrophs) | Organisms that make its own food matrix all energy and then ecosystem(bottom of all food chains and food webs) |
| Consumer(heterotrophs) | Organism that cannot make own food and feeds on producers organism that cannot make own food and feeds on producers or other consumers for food. |
| Herbivore | Plant eater |
| Carnivore | Meat eater |
| Omnivore | Plant and meat eater |
| Decomposer | Organisms that breakdown dead organisms and consume their nutrients |
| Food chain | Food energy transferred from one organism to another by eating. |
| Food web | All the possible overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. |
| Feeding level | Location producer is the primary consumer the third Tertiary. |
| Energy pyramid | Shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another more energy is available at the base of the pyramid then at the top |
| Competition | When organisms use the same limited resources they can be divided between two species or individuals within a species |
| Predation | When one animal eats another animal not a plant the predator eat the prey |
