Biology Unit – Ecology Vocabulary
1. Try to define the following words without looking them up
2. Use pages 21-26 to find the meaning of the words you do not know.
Name:____Key____________
Block: ____
Vocabulary Word
Definition in your own words – do not copy it from the text
Ecology
The study of how organisms interact with each other and with their
physical environment. Ecologists look for patterns in living things to
explain observations
Organism
The first and simplest level of organization that ecologists study.
A single living thing.
Population
Second level of organization, usually organisms live in
populations, all of the organisms of the same species sharing a
habitat
Third level of organization. All of the different populations in a
particular area interacting together
Community
Ecosystem
Biosphere
Fourth and most complex level of organization. Includes the living
community and the physical environment and how they affect
each other.
The total area of Earth where living things are found, including
soil, atmosphere and ocean. A big ecosystem.
Habitat
The region where an organism lives.
Biotic factors
The living components of an ecosystem
Abiotic factors
The non-living components of an ecosystem.
Producers/autotrophs
Organisms that make their own food, usually using energy from
the sun.
Consumers/heterotrophs
Organisms that consume other organisms or biotic waste in order
to survive.
Herbivores/Primary
consumers
Consumers that eat producers
Carnivores
Consumers that eat other consumers
Omnivores
Secondary consumers
Organisms that eat both producers and other consumers
Detrivores
Consumers that feed on the waste material in an ecosystem,
including the bodies of other organism that have recently died,
plant debris and animal feces
Special type of consuer that breaks down the complex molecules
found in dead organisms and waste matter into simpler molecules.
Nature’s recyclers – bacteria and fungi
Decomposers
Usually carnivores, they feed on smaller plant eating organisms.
Modelling Interactions
Let’s choose an animal _______________
Show below, what that animal eats, what eats that animal, who that animal competes with for
food and the non-living factors that affect that animal.
(Read the directions on page 20 for clarification)
In-class Activity – not for homework
Abiotic
Biotic