| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| abiotic factor | a nonliving part of an organism's habitat |
| biotic factor | a living part of an organisms habitat |
| habitat | an environment that provides the things an organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce |
| climate | the typical weather pattern in an area over time |
| dispersal | the movement from organisms from one place to another |
| biogeography | the study of where organisms live |
| biome | a group of land ecosystem with similar climates and organisms |
| aquatic ecosystem | an organism where the organisms spend majority of their life in water |
| primary succession | the series of changes that occur in an area where no soil or organism exist |
| secondary succession | the series of changes that occur in an area where the ecosystem has been disturbed but where soil and organisms still exist |
| limiting factor | an environmental factor that causes a population to decrease |
| symbiosis | a close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species |
| competition | the struggle between organisms to survive as they attempt to use the same limited resources |
| mutualism | a relationship between two species in which both species benefit |
| commensalism | a relationship between two species in which one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor hurt |
| parasite | the organism that benefits by living on or in a host in a parasitism (parasitic) intereaction |
| host | the organism that a parasite lives in or on in a parasitism (parasitic) interaction |
| predator | the organism that does the killing in a predation interaction |
| prey | an organism that is killed and eaten by another organism |
