Ecology - Middle School

Review this essential ecology vocabulary and learn all about the relationships between organisms and their environment. This list covers ecosystems and biomes, food chains and food webs, ecological relationships like symbiosis and parasitism, and much more.
74 words 2693 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. adaptation
    the process of adjusting or conforming to new conditions
  2. air pollution
    pollution of the atmosphere
  3. algae
    primitive chlorophyll-containing aquatic organisms
  4. autotroph
    an organism capable of synthesizing its own food
  5. biodegradable
    capable of being decomposed
  6. biodiversity
    the variety of plant and animal life in a habitat
  7. biome
    major ecological community with distinct climate and flora
  8. biosphere
    the regions of the Earth where living organisms exist
  9. biotic
    of or relating to living organisms
  10. carbon cycle
    the organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
  11. carnivore
    a terrestrial or aquatic flesh-eating mammal
  12. cell
    the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms
  13. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  14. commensalism
    when one organism benefits from another without damaging it
  15. community
    group of interdependent organisms living in the same region
  16. competition
    the act of contending with others for rewards or resources
  17. conservation
    careful management of the environment and natural resources
  18. cycle
    a periodically repeated sequence of events
  19. depletion
    the state of being used up
  20. desert
    arid land with little or no vegetation
  21. digestion
    the process by which the body breaks down food
  22. ecology
    the environment as it relates to living organisms
  23. ecosystem
    organisms interacting with their physical environment
  24. emigration
    moving from one place in order to settle in another
  25. endangered species
    a species whose numbers are so small that the species is at risk of extinction
  26. energy
    any source of usable power
  27. environment
    the area in which something exists or lives
  28. evaporation
    the process of becoming a suspension of particles in the air
  29. excretion
    the bodily process of discharging waste matter
  30. extinction
    the state of being no longer in existence
  31. food chain
    community of organisms where each member is eaten by another
  32. food web
    community of organisms with several interrelated food chains
  33. global warming
    a rise in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere
  34. grassland
    land where grass or grasslike vegetation grows and is the dominant form of plant life
  35. habitat
    the type of environment in which an organism normally lives
  36. herbivore
    any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants
  37. heterotroph
    an organism that cannot make its own food supply
  38. homeostasis
    metabolic equilibrium maintained by biological mechanisms
  39. host
    an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite
  40. immigration
    movement of people into a country or area
  41. ingestion
    the process of taking food into the body through the mouth
  42. interact
    do something together or with others
  43. intraspecies
    arising or occurring within a species
  44. lichen
    a plant occurring in crusty patches on tree trunks or rocks
  45. metabolize
    produce by the organic processes necessary for life
  46. microbe
    a minute life form, especially one that causes disease
  47. mutualism
    the relation between two organisms that benefit each other
  48. natural resource
    material in the environment that can be used by people
  49. niche
    status or place of an organism within its environment
  50. nitrogen fixation
    the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by soil bacteria and its release for plant use on the death of the bacteria
  51. omnivore
    an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances
  52. organism
    a living thing that can act or function independently
  53. parasite
    an animal or plant that lives in or on a host
  54. parasitism
    when one organism benefits from another by causing damage
  55. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
  56. plankton
    aggregate of small organisms that float or drift in water
  57. pollution
    contamination of the natural environment
  58. population
    a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area
  59. population growth
    increase in the number of people who inhabit a territory or state
  60. precipitation
    the falling to earth of any form of water
  61. predator
    any animal that lives by preying on other animals
  62. prey
    animal hunted or caught for food
  63. rain forest
    a forest with heavy annual rainfall
  64. renewable resource
    any natural resource (as wood or solar energy) that can be replenished naturally with the passage of time
  65. respiration
    the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation
  66. savanna
    a flat grassland in tropical or subtropical regions
  67. scavenger
    any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying matter
  68. species
    taxonomic group whose members can interbreed
  69. succession
    the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem
  70. symbiosis
    the relation between two interdependent species of organisms
  71. transpiration
    the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants
  72. tropical rain forest
    a rain forest in a tropical area
  73. tundra
    a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen
  74. water pollution
    pollution of the water in rivers and lakes
Created on Wed Feb 08 21:51:40 EST 2017 (updated Mon Jun 12 17:10:52 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.