Unit 6 Vocabulary Flash Cards
Ecology
Biotic factor
Abiotic factor
Population
Species
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Habitat
Niche
Herbivore
Producer
Decomposer
Consumer
Living things and how they interact with
other living things; ex: squirrel, tree, eagle,
rabbit, groundhog, bee, worm, etc
Study of how organisms interact with each
other and with their environment
Group of individual of the same species
living in the same area at the same time;
ex: cows in a field, robins in the tree,
wolves in the mountains
Nonliving part of the environment; ex: water,
air, temperature, clouds, soil, sunlight, etc
All the population of different species that live
in an area; the biotic community or all the living
things in that area; ex: birds in the trees, insects
in the bush, dogs, cats, people, ants in the
neighborhood
Organisms that are closely related and can mate
with each other and make fertile offspring
(their babies can have babies)
Large region or area that has the same climate
and communities of species (plants & animals);
ex: tropical rainforest, grassland, desert, ocean
A community of organisms and their nonliving
environment; all the biotic and abiotic in an area;
all the living and nonliving things in an area; ex:
ocean, field, pond, mountains, salt marsh
Role a population plays in the ecosystem;
how it gets food, interacts with others;
ex: predator, competitor, producer, herbivore
Place where organisms usually live and
provides their water, shelter, food, etc
Organisms that use energy, like sunlight,
to make food; most do photosynthesis;
also called an autotroph
Type of consumer where the animal eats only
plants to get energy; ex: giraffe, cow, squirrel,
cricket
Organism that eats or absorbs other organisms
for food; can’t make their own food from
energy; also called a heterotroph
Organism that gets energy from breaking
down the remains of other organisms; it eats
dead things and breaks them down and returns
the nutrients to the soil; ex: earthworm, fly,
some bacteria
Omnivore
Carnivore
Food chain
Scavenger
Energy pyramid
Food web
Third order consumer / tertiary consumer
Biomass
First order consumer / primary consumer
Second order consumer / secondary consumer
Carrying capacity
Top predator or apex predator
Predation
Limiting factor
Type of consumer where the animal eats only
other animals to get energy; ex: cougar,
wolf, tiger, hawk
Type of consumer where the animal eats both
plants and animals to get energy; ex: humans,
bears, robins, foxes
Type of consumer where the animal eats dead,
sick, and dying organisms or steals food from
other animals; it does not return the nutrients to
the soil like decomposers; ex: vulture; hyena, crow
Diagram that shows the path of energy transfer
from producers to consumers; show the path that
one piece of energy takes; usually a circle where a
decomposer returns the nutrients to the soil
for the producer to use again
Diagram that shows the flow of energy in the
ecosystem; has many different producers and
consumers; shows how many different organisms
eat each other to get energy
Diagram that shows how energy is passed from
one level to the next and is used up at each level;
producers are always at the bottom with the
highest level consumer at the top
All the living organisms as a level in the
energy pyramid; largest is at the bottom
with the plants
Third consumer, a carnivore, in a food chain,
food web, or energy pyramid; gets about 0.1%
of the energy made by the producer
Second consumer, either an omnivore or
carnivore, in a food chain, food web, or
energy pyramid; gets less energy than the
level before it; gets about 1% of the energy
made by the producer
First consumer, an herbivore, in a food chain,
food web, or energy pyramid; gets about 10%
of the energy the producer makes
Last consumer in the food chain, food web,
or energy pyramid; nothing but the decomposer
gets its energy; gets the least amount of energy
from the producer
The maximum or largest number of individuals
of one species that the environment can support
or have enough food, shelter, water, for; when go
over this limit animals and plants start to die off
The biotic (living) or abiotic (nonliving) part of
the environment that keeps a population size
below the carrying capacity; ex: amount of water
or shelter, number of predators, amount of food
available, diseases, competition
The relationship where one animal hunts down
and eats another animal; predator eats prey
Competition
Cooperation
Predator
Prey
Immigration
Emigration
Symbiosis
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
Parasite
Host
Behavior where individuals of the same
species work together to get something done;
ex: hunting together, watching out for
predators together
Behavior where two or more individuals or
populations are trying to use the same
limited resources, like food, water, shelter,
sunlight, territory, mates
An animal that is hunted down and eaten
by another animal
Animal that hunts, stalk, and kills another
animal for food; ex: hawk, lion, wolf
Behavior that happens when individuals move
away from where they were currently living;
individuals exit the population
Behavior that happens when individuals move
into a new location or territory; individuals are
joining a new population
Symbiotic relationship where organisms of
different species work together and both are
helped; ex: coral and algae, clownfish and sea
anemone, sponge and brittle star
A close long-term relationship between
organisms in different species where at least
one organism is helped
Symbiotic relationship where one organism is
helped and the other organism is harmed; the
parasite feeds upon the host for energy; ex:
tick and dog, flea and cat, leech and human
Symbiotic relationship where one organism
is helped and the other is not helped or harmed,
it is unaffected; ex: osprey hawk and sparrow,
robin and tree, shark and remora fish
An organism that is fed upon by another but is
not killed by it; ex: human fed on by tick; dog
fed on by flea, tree fed on by mistletoe
An organism that feeds upon another organism
for energy but does not kill them; ex: tick, flea,
leech, tapeworm, mistletoe