Unit 7 Vocabulary
biotic
• Organisms living or that had once lived in the
environment (i.e., mouse, clover, dead tree)
abiotic
• Non-living factors in the environment (i.e.,
light, temperature, water, atmospheric gases,
wind, soil, and nature of land surface)
habitat
• The place in which an animal lives
ecosystem
• A biological community of interacting
organisms and their physical environment.
sustainability
• The capacity to endure.
• In ecology, the word describes how biological
systems remain diverse and productive over
time.
biodiversity
• The variety of organisms in an ecosystem
biome
• Large geographic areas with similar climates
and ecosystems (i.e., desert, tundra, etc.)
population
• Made up from all of the organisms in an
ecosystem that belong to the same species
ecosystem
• A smaller part of the biosphere consisting of
the organisms and non-living features that
interact in an area
primary succession
• the development of biotic (living)
communities in a previously uninhabited and
barren habitat with little or no soil
secondary succession
• The development of communities in an area
that has been disturbed but still retains its
topsoil, as in a burned-over area
climax community
• An ecological community in which populations
of plants or animals remain stable and exist in
balance with each other and their
environment.
• A climax community is the final stage of
succession
species
• All organisms of the same kind that adapted
to a particular set of resources (called a niche)
in the environment
pioneer species
• The first species/organisms to grow in an area
after a disturbance.
microhabitat
• A small habitat that differs in character from
some surrounding more extensive habitat.