Ecology Terms Review

• A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms

Scavenger

• make food by photosynthesis, green plants

Producer

• The non living parts of an ecosystem

Abiotic Factors

• All the members of one species in a particular area

Population

– break down wastes, fungi and bacteria

Decomposers

• An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms

Consumer

• All the different populations that live in an area

Community

• a series of related food chains in an ecosystem

Food Web

• A close relationship between species that benefits at least one of the species

Symbiosis

• An interaction where one organism kills and eats another

Predation

• A living part (or once was living) of an ecosystem

• Biotic Factor

• The study of how living things interact with each other and their environment

Ecology

• A consumer that eats animals

Carnivore

• Competition, Predation and Symbiosis are all examples of this

Interaction

• The struggle between organisms for the limited resources of a habitat

Competition

• The largest population that an area can support

Carrying Capacity

• A relationship between two organisms in which both benefit

Mutualism

• An environmental factor that prevents a population from growing

Limiting Factor

• A series of events in which one organism eats another

Food Chain

• All the living and non living things that interact in an area

Ecosystem

• A relationship between two organisms in which one benefits and the other is not affected

Commensalism

• A relationship where one organism lives on or inside another and harms it

Parasitism

• A consumer that eats both plants and animals

Omnivore

• The smallest unit of organization in an ecosystem

Organism

• An organism that only eats plants

Herbivore