biodiversity

The diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat (or in

the world as a whole).

ecosystemsA system that includes all living

organisms (biotic factors) in an area as well as its physical environment

(abiotic factors) functioning together as a unit.

limiting factorA factor present in an environment that controls a process, particularly

the growth, abundance or distribution of a population of organisms in an

ecosystem.

ecological nicheThe ecological role and space that an organism fills in an ecosystem.

AdaptationThe adjustment or changes in

behavior, physiology, and structure of an organism to become more

suited to an environment.

competitionA symbiotic relationship between or among living things for resources, such as food, space, shelter, mate,

ecological status, etc.

predationA form of symbiotic relationship between two organisms of unlike

species in which one of them acts as predator that captures and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey.

symbiosisThe relationship between two

different species of organisms that are interdependent on each other.

commensalismA form of symbiosis between two

organisms of different species in which one of them benefits from the association

whereas the other is largely unaffected or not significantly harmed or benefiting from

the relationship.

mutualismA symbiotic relationship between individuals of different species in

which both individuals benefit from the association.

parasitismA form of symbiosis in which one organism (called parasite) benefits at the expense of another organism usually of different

species (called host). The association may also lead to the injury of the host.

food chainA feeding hierarchy in which organisms in

an ecosystem are grouped into trophic (nutritional) levels and are shown in a

succession to represent the flow of food energy and the feeding relationships

between them.

food webA food web is many food chains linked together to show a more accurate model of all possible

feeding relationships of organisms in an ecosystem.

energy pyramidA graphical model that is shaped like a pyramid to show how the energy flows through a food chain, how the amount of energy is

decreasing and becoming less available for organisms as it enters each trophic level, and how much of the energy in the ecosystem is

lost to the atmosphere as heat.