Adaptation

Amphibian

A special trait that helps an organism survive.

A cold-blooded vertebrate that spends part of its life in water and part of its life on land.

Arthropod

Camouflage

An invertebrate with jointed legs and a body that is divided into sections.

An adaptation by which an animal can hide by blending in with its surroundings.

Class

Cold-blooded

A smaller group within a phylum. Classes are made up of smaller groups called orders.

An animal that cannot control its body temperature.

Community

Consumer

The living part of an ecosystem.

Any organism that eats the food producers make, or that eats other consumers.

Decomposer

Ecology

An organism that breaks down wastes and the remains of other organisms.

The study of how living and nonliving things interact.

Ecosystem

Endoskeleton

The living and nonliving things in an environment, and all their interaction.

An internal supporting structure.

Exoskeleton

Extinct

A hard covering that protects an invertebrates body.

An organism no longer alive on Earth.

Family

Food Chain

A smaller group of organisms within a class.

The set of steps in which organisms get the food they need to survive.

Genus

Habitat

A group made up of two or more very similar species.

The home of an organism.

Herbivore

Invertebrate

A consumer that eats only plants.

An animal without a backbone.

Kingdom

Mammal

The largest group into which an organism can be classified.

A warm-blooded vertebrate with hair or fur.

Omnivore

Order

A consumer that eats both plants and animals.

A smaller group within a class.

Organism

Overpopulation

A living thing that carries out five basic life functions on its own.

A depletion of resources that occurs when too many of at least one kind of living thing inhabits an ecosystem.

Population

Phylum

One type of organism living in an area.

A large group within a kingdom.

Producer

Reptile

An organism, such as a plant, that makes food.

A cold-blooded vertebrate that lives on land and has a backbone, an endoskeleton, and waterproof skin with scales or plates.

Species

Trait

The smallest group into which an organism is classified.

A characteristic of a living thing.

Vertebrate

Warm-blooded

An animal with a backbone.

An animal with a constant body temperature.