Download Ecology – Study Guide #1 – Vocabulary

Ecology – Study Guide #1 – Vocabulary
Ecology = the scientific study of how living things interact with each other and their environment
Ecologist = scientist who studies relationships between organisms and environments
Ecosystem = all the living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) things that interact in a particular
environment; an ecosystem can be as small as a meadow or a swamp or as large as a
forest or a desert
Niche = the role a living thing plays in its habitat
Extinct = the permanent disappearance of a species
Predator = an animal that hunts other animals and eats them
Prey = an animal that other animals hunt and eat
Producer = an organism that captures energy from sunlight and transforms it into chemical energy that
is stored in energy-rich carbon compounds; producers are a source of food for other
organisms
Autotroph = an organism that CAN produce energy through the process of photosynthesis
First Level Consumer = eats or consumes producers (plants)
Second Level Consumer = consumes first-level consumers; eats something that eats plants
Third Level Consumer = consumes second-level consumers; eats something that eats something that eats
plants
Photosynthesis = the process by which green plants and other producers use simple compounds and
energy from light to make sugar, an energy-rich compound
Consumer = a living things that gets its energy by eating other living things in a food chain; consumers
are also called heterotrophs
Heterotroph = an organism that MUST eat or consume something for energy
Food Chain = a model used to show the feeding relationship between a single producer and a chain of
consumers in an ecosystem
Food Web = a model used to show a feeding relationship in which many food chains overlap in an
ecosystem
Energy = the ability to do work or to cause change; ALL living things need energy
Abiotic Factor = a non-living physical or chemical part of an ecosystem
Biotic Factor = a living thing in an ecosystem
Herbivore = an organism that ONLY eats plants; humans that are herbivores are called vegetarians
Carnivore = an organism that eats ONLY meat
Omnivore = an organism that eats BOTH plants and animals
Decomposer = an organism that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter
Scavenger = a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms that they did not kill (carrion)
Carrion = the dead and decaying flesh of an animal
Organism = an individual living thing, made up of one or many cells, that is capable of growing and
reproducing
Population = a group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area