Chapter 2 Principles of Ecology Vocabulary
Abiotic Factor (P. 35)
Autotroph (P. 41)
Biogeochemical Cycle (P. 45)
Biological Community (P. 36)
Biomass (P. 44)
Biome (P. 36)
Biosphere (P. 34)
Biotic Factor (P. 35)
Carnivore (P. 41)
Commensalism (P. 40)
Denitrification (P. 48)
Detritivore (P. 42)
Ecology (P. 32)
Ecosystem (P. 36)
Food Chain (P. 43)
Food Web (P. 43)
Habitat (P. 38)
Herbivore (P. 41)
Heterotroph (P. 41)
Matter (P. 45)
Mutualism (P. 39)
Niche (P. 38)
Nitrogen Fixation (P. 48)
Nutrient (P. 45)
Omnivore (P. 42)
Parasitism (P. 40)
Population (P. 36)
Predation (P. 38)
Symbiosis (P. 39)
Trophic Level (P. 42)
Nonliving factors in an organism’s environment
an organism that collects energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to produce food.
Exchange of matter through the biosphere
A group of interacting populations that occupy the same geographic area at the same time
The total mass of living matter at each trophic level
A large group of ecosystems that share the same climate and have similar types of
communities.
Portion of Earth that supports life
living factors in an organism’s environment
Heterotrophs that prey on other heterotrophs
A relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is neither helped nor
harmed
Soil bacteria convert fixed nitrogen compounds back into nitrogen gas, which returns it to
the atmosphere
Scientific discipline in which the relationships among living organisms and the interaction
the organisms have with their environments
Biological community and all of the abiotic factors that affect it
A simple model that shows how energy flows through an ecosystem.
A model representing the many interconnected food chains and pathways in which energy f
lows through a group of organisms.
An area where an organism lives
A heterotroph that eats only plants
An organism that gets its energy requirements by consuming other organisms.
Anything that takes up space and has mass
Relationship between two or more organisms that live closely together and benefit from
each other
The role or position that an organism has in its environment.
The process of capture and conversion of nitrogen into a form that is useable by plants
A chemical substance that an organism must obtain from its environment to sustain life and
to undergo life processes
Organisms that eat both plants and animals
A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another organism
Individual organisms of a single species that share the same geographic location at the same
time
The act of one organism consuming another organism
Close relationship that exists when two or more species live together
Each step in a food chain or food web