ecology definitions

• habitat


  Place where an organism lives
• species


  a group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.
• population


  a group of organisms of the same species populating a habitat
• community


  all the different populations that live together in a habitat
• ecology


  the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment
• ecosystem


  a dynamic biological community of interacting organisms and their environment
• abiotic


  non-living
• abiotic factors


  non-living factors that affect organisms in their habitats
• biotic


  living
• biotic factors


  the ways in which one organism may affect another
• distribution


  the areas of a habitat where a population is found and in what quantities
• abundance


  the size of a population in a certain area
• biomass


  a measure of the total dry mass of organisms within a particular region
• producers


  organisms that produce their own food
• primary consumers


  animals that feed on producers - herbivores
• secondary consumers


  animals that eat primary consumers - omnivores or carnivores
• tertiary consumers


  animals that eat secondary consumers - carnivores
• trophic level


  each step in a food chain or food web
• transect


  a sample path/line/strip along which you record the occurrence and/or distribution of plants and animals in a particular study area
• quadrat


  a square frame used for sampling a specific area in field work
• mode


  the most frequently occurring score
• median


  the middle value
• mean


  the average
• range


  the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
• intraspecific competition


  competition between members of the same species
• interspecific competition


  competition between members of different species