Unit 5 Vocabulary

1.Biosphere - The region of our planet where life resides, the combination of all ecosystems on Earth. 1.Ecosystem - A particular location on Earth distinguished by its mix of interacting biotic and abiotic components. 3.) Ecology - The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

4.) Population - The individuals that belong to the same species and live in a given at a given time. 5.) Community - All of the populations of organisms within a given area. 6.) Habitat - The natural environment for an organism

7.) Competition - The struggle of individuals to obtain a limiting resource. 8.) Limiting Factor - Things that prevent a population from growing even larger. 9.) Carrying Capacity - The maximum population size that an ecosystem can sustain.

10.) Producers - An organism that uses energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy. 11.) Consumers - An organism that must obtain its energy by consuming other organisms. 12.) Herbivore - A predator that consumes plants as prey

13.) Carnivore - An animal that feeds on flesh 14.) Omnivore - An organism that eats both plants and flesh 15.) Decomposer - Fungi or bacteria that recycle nutrients from dead tissue and wastes back into an ecosystem

16.) Scavenger - A carnivore that consumes dead animals 17.) Food Chain/Web - The sequence of consumption from producer to consumers (model of how energy flows) 18.) Symbiosis - A relationship of two species that live in close association with each other.

19.) Mutualism - An interaction between species that increases the chance of survival or reproduction for both species. 20.) Commensalism - A relationship between species in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor helped. 21.) Parasitism - A relationship between species in which one species benefits while the other is harmed.

22.) Niche - A role “job” that organisms do to survive 23.) Permafrost - An impermeable, permanently frozen layer of soil. 24.) Biotic - living 25.) Abiotic - nonliving