Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Middle School and High School

If you can't camouflage your enthusiasm for ecology, you'll want to learn this list about interdependent relationships in ecosystems. Review food chains and food webs, competition and cooperation, symbiosis and parasitism, and much more. This vocabulary list is a great resource!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. adaptation
    the process of adjusting or conforming to new conditions
  2. autotroph
    an organism capable of synthesizing its own food
  3. biome
    major ecological community with distinct climate and flora
  4. biosphere
    the regions of the Earth where living organisms exist
  5. biotic
    of or relating to living organisms
  6. camouflage
    exploit the natural surroundings to disguise something
  7. carbon cycle
    the organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
  8. carnivore
    a terrestrial or aquatic flesh-eating mammal
  9. chemosynthesis
    synthesis of carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water
  10. commensalism
    when one organism benefits from another without damaging it
  11. community
    group of interdependent organisms living in the same region
  12. competition
    the act of contending with others for rewards or resources
  13. cooperation
    the practice of working together on a common enterprise
  14. dependent variable
    a quantity whose value depends on another quantity
  15. disease
    an impairment of health
  16. ecology
    the environment as it relates to living organisms
  17. ecosystem
    organisms interacting with their physical environment
  18. emigration
    moving from one place in order to settle in another
  19. food chain
    community of organisms where each member is eaten by another
  20. food web
    community of organisms with several interrelated food chains
  21. herbivore
    any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants
  22. heterotroph
    an organism that cannot make its own food supply
  23. host
    an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite
  24. immigration
    movement of people into a country or area
  25. independent variable
    a value that does not depend on changes in other values
  26. interdependent
    mutually reliant
  27. interspecies
    arising or occurring between species
  28. intraspecies
    arising or occurring within a species
  29. migration
    the periodic passage of groups of animals
  30. mimicry
    the resemblance of an animal species to another species
  31. mutualism
    the relation between two organisms that benefit each other
  32. niche
    status or place of an organism within its environment
  33. nitrogen fixation
    the assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by soil bacteria and its release for plant use on the death of the bacteria
  34. omnivore
    an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances
  35. organism
    a living thing that can act or function independently
  36. parasite
    an animal or plant that lives in or on a host
  37. parasitism
    when one organism benefits from another by causing damage
  38. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
  39. pollination
    transfer of the fine spores that contain male gametes
  40. population
    a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area
  41. predation
    the act of preying by an animal that kills and eats the prey
  42. predator
    any animal that lives by preying on other animals
  43. prey
    animal hunted or caught for food
  44. resilience
    an occurrence of rebounding or springing back
  45. resource
    a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed
  46. species
    taxonomic group whose members can interbreed
  47. succession
    the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem
  48. survival
    the state of remaining alive
  49. sustainability
    the capacity of being prolonged
  50. symbiosis
    the relation between two interdependent species of organisms
  51. transpiration
    the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants
  52. variation
    the process of being or becoming different
Created on Thu Feb 09 10:44:49 EST 2017 (updated Thu Apr 06 11:49:04 EDT 2017)

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