LIVING ENVIRONMENT NOTES
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Ecology- the study of the relationships and interactions of living things with one another and
with their environment.
Organism- any living thing.
Biotic- the part of the environment that includes all the organisms that live together and interact
together – animals, plants.
Abiotic- the part of the environment that consists of non-living factors – water, soil, light,
weather.
Population- a group of organisms of the same type, or species, living together in the same area.
Ex: all red wood trees in a forest.
Community- all the different organisms that live together in that area. Ex: a pond community=
all fish, frogs, plants, etc. in that pond.
Ecosystem- all the living and non-living things in a given area that interact with one another.
Can be very small or very large. Ex: drop of pond water; ocean; planet.
Biosphere- the part of Earth where life exists.
Environment- all living and non-living things with which an organism may interact. Ex: deep
sea; rain forest.
All living and non-living things in an environment are INTERCONNECTED.
Habitat- the place in which an organism lives. Must provide food, shelter, etc.
Biosphere- the part of Earth where life exists.
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Producers- organisms that make their own food. All green plants are producers.
Consumers- organisms that can NOT make their own food. Ex: animals.
Herbivore- plant eater–cow, horse,grasshopper, rabbit.
Carnivore- meat eater– spider, snake, wolf.
Omnivore- eats plants and meat–bear, human.
Decomposers- organisms that break down the bodies of dead organisms into simpler substances.
Ex: molds, mushrooms, bacteria.
Food chain- a representation of a series of events in which food energy and matter are transferred
from one organism to another. The first link is a producer; second link is a herbivore; third link,
and all others, are almost always carnivores.
Food web- a diagram that consists of many overlapping food chains.
Energy pyramid- a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem’s loss of energy through the
food chain.
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Carrying Capacity- the largest population that an environment can support at any given time.
Competition- organisms struggling with one another to get the things they need to survive.
Prey- the organisms eaten by predators
Predator- living things that catch, kill and eat other living things.
Symbiosis-a close relationship between 2 organisms in which 1 organism lives near, on, or inside
another organism, and in which at least one organism benefits. (There are 3 categories)
1. Mutualism- Both organism benefit
2. Commenalism- one organism benefits and the other is NOT harmed.
3. Parasitism- one organism benefits and the other IS harmed.
Parasite- a small organism that lives on a larger organism and feeds on it.
Host- the parasites “UNLUCKY PARTNER”