Biology Vocab Words Chp. 2

Front 1

abiotic factor

Back 1

the non-living parts of an organism's enviornment

Front 2

biosphere

Back 2

the portion of Earth that supports life

Front 3

biotic factor

Back 3

all the living organisms that inhabit an enviornment

Front 4

commensalism

Back 4

is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor benefitted.

Front 5

community

Back 5

is a collection of interacting populations

Front 6

ecology

Back 6

is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environments

Front 7

ecosystem

Back 7

is made up of the interactions among the populations in a community and the community's physical surroundings or abiotic factors

Front 8

habitat

Back 8

is the place where an organism lives out its life

Front 9

mutualism

Back 9

a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit

Front 10

niche

Back 10

a role and position a species has in its environment - how it meets its needs for food and shelter, survival, and reproduction

Front 11

parasitism

Back 11

a symbiotic relationship in which one organism derives benefit at the expense of the other

Front 12

population

Back 12

is a group of organisms of one species that interbreeds and lives in the same place at the same time

Front 13

symbiosis

Back 13

means living together

Front 14

autotroph

Back 14

organisms that use energy from the sun or energy stored in chemical compounds to manufacture their own nutrients

Front 15

heterotroph

Back 15

organisms that cannot make their own food and must feed on other organisms

Front 16

scavenger

Back 16

such as black vultures feed on carrion and refuse, and play a beneficial role in the ecosystem

Front 17

decomposer

Back 17

break down and absorb nutirents from dead organisms

Front 18

food chain

Back 18

a simple model scientists use to show how matter and energy move through an ecosystem

Front 19

trophic level

Back 19

organism in a food chain that represents a feeding step in the passage of energy and materials through an ecosystem

Front 20

food web

Back 20

model that expresses all the possible feeding relationships at each trophic level in a community