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Ecology Unit

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nonliving, physical features of the environment, including air, water, sunlight, soil, temperature, and climate
any living or previously living component of an environment
group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities
organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food from inorganic compounds; also called a producer
portion of earth that supports life
a trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce
the total mass of living matter in a given unit area
Meat eater
a stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species over time
the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources
(ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other
a symbiotic relationship in which one member is benefited and the second is neither harmed nor benefited
Organisms that break down the dead remains of other organisms
a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment, a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment
The interactions and relationships between organisms and their environment., The series of predictable changes that occurs in a community over time
scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment
way of showing how energy moves through a food chain
pathway of food transfer from one trophic level to another
links all the food chains in an ecosystem together
Place where an Organism lives and has the component necessary for its survival (food, water, shelter, space)
an organism that cannot make its own food
eats only plants
ability of a living thing to keep conditions inside its body constant
anything that restricts the number of individuals in a population
that which has mass and occupies space
organism's role, or job, in its habitat
the circulation and reutilization of nitrogen in both inorganic and organic phases
chemical that an organism needs to live
an animal that eats both plants and animals
orderly structure of cells in an organism
a close relationship; one species benefits, the other is harmed
a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area
the colonization of new sites like these by communities of organisms
the act of killing and eating another organism
the process of generating offspring
Reaction to a change
a signal to which an organism responds
group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring
relationship in which two species live closely together, the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent
organism's capacity to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor
step in a food chain or food web
recur in repeating sequences
a biogeochemical cycle which exchanges CO2, O2, and glucose through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration.
the continuous movement of water between Earth's surface and the air, changing from liquid to gas to liquid (condensation, precipitation, evaporation
a relationship between two species in which both species benefit
the total mass of living matter in a given unit area
any animal that lives by preying on other animals
animal hunted or caught for food
a species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem
process by which pollutants become more concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web
rapid growth of algae in bodies of water, due to high levels of nitrogen and often phosphate
(alien species, non-native species), species moved by humans to new geographic areas, either intentionally or accidentally
the series of changes that occur after a disturbance of an existing ecosystem
native to or confined to a certain region
strives to enable people to use natural resources in ways that will benefit them and maintain the ecosystem
the use of living organisms to detoxify and restore polluted and degraded ecosystems

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