Chapter 16 vocab Flashcards
Ecology
Scientific study of how organisms interact with their environment
Biosphere
The entire portion of earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the plants ecosystem
Biotic Factors
living factors
Abiotic Factors
nonliving factors
Organism
an individual living thing
Population
a group of individuals belonging to one species and living in the same geographic area
Community
an assemblage of all the organisms living together and potentially interacting in a particular area.
Ecosystem
all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment
Biome
major types of ecological associations that occupy broad geographic regions of land or water and are characterized by organisms adapted to the particular environment
Habitat
a place/environment where an organism lives
Niche
The role of a species in its community; the sum total of a species use of the biotic and abiotic resources of is environment
Competition
the competition for resources in an ecosystem
Predation
an interaction between species in which one species, the predator, eats the other, the prey
Symbiosis
interaction between to different organisms living in close physical association typically to the advantage of both
Mutualism
an inter-specific relationship in which both partners benefit
