Terminology

Ecology: The study of the relationship among organisms and their environment.

Ecosystem: collection of organisms and non living things, such as climate, soil, water, and rocks in an area.

Organism: Any individual living thing.

Population: all of the individuals of a species that live in the same area.

Community: collection of all of the different populations that live in one area.

Biome: a very large ecosystem found all over the world.

Biotic factor: the living factors in an ecosystem.

Abiotic factors: the non-living factors in an ecosystem.

Biodiversity: variety of life within an area.

Keystone species: a species that has an unusually large effect on it's ecosystem.

Autotroph: get their energy from non-living resources.

Heterotroph: get their energy from other living (once living) resources.

Photosynthesis: theuse of sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.

Herbivore: Consumers who only eat plants.

Carnivore: consumers who only eat meat.

Omnivore: Consumers who eat BOTH plants and animals.

Detritovore: consumers that detritus.

Decomposer: Detritovores that break down organicmatter into simple compunds and return it to the enviroment.

Specialists: Consumers that only eat one organism or smaller number of organisms.

Generalists: Consumers that have a large variety in their diet.

Trophic level: levels of nourishment in a food chain.

Food web: model that shows the complex network of feeding relationships and the flow of energy within and sometimes beyond an ecosystem.

Hydrologic Cycle: describes the continuous movement of water on, above ad below the surface of the Earth.

Biogeochemical Cycle: chemical substances which move through both biotic and abiotic compartments of earth.

Nitrogen Fixation: the incorporation of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia byvariousbacteria.

Biomass: measure of the total dry mass of the organisms given in an area.

Energy Pyramid: a diagram that compares energy used by producers.

Habitat: is a natural home or enviroment of an animal, plant, or other oganisms.

Niche: term describing the relation position of species or population in an ecosystem.