Glossary
A
- abiotic
- - nonliving factors in the environment. The abiotic factors of the environment include light, temperature, soil, climate and atmospheric gases.
B
- biome
- - A large community of plants and animals that occupies a distinct region.
- biotic
- - pertaining to life or living things.
C
- carnivore
- - organism that eats meat for energy.
- community
- - the region occupied by a group of interacting organisms.
- consumer
- - organism that consumes another organism as food for energy.
D
- decomposer
- - organism that breaks down organic material.
E
- ecology
- - the study of how living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) parts of the environment interact with each other.
- ecosystem
- - a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment.
F
- food chain
- - an interconnected chain of organisms that indicate which are predators and which are prey in relation to one another.
H
- habitat
- - the natural environment of a plant or animal.
- herbivore
- - organism that eats plants for energy.
N
- niche
- - the ecological role of an organism in a community.
O
- omnivore
- - organism that eats plants and meat for energy.
- organism
- - any living thing that has living characteristics and is composed of one or more cells.
P
- population
- - all the organisms that constitute a specific group or occur in a specific habitat.
- producer
- - organism that uses the sun to create food.
S
- species
- - organisms that can reproduce with each other.
