Ecology

• Individual: Part of a species that can mate and produce fertile offspring.
• Population: Multiple individuals of the same species.
• Community: A group of populations of different species living in the same area.
• Biosphere: All life on Earth
• Ecosystem: The interaction between biotic (living) components, such as plants and animals, and abiotic (non-living) components, such as water and soil, within an environment.
• Biome: Large areas with similar climates and vegetation types
• Symbiosis: Two organisms that interact with each other.
• Mutualism: Both organisms benefit from their relationship.
• Competition: Organisms compete for resources like food or space.
• Parasitism: One organism benefits while the other is harmed.
• Predator/Prey Relationship: One species preys upon another.
• Commensalism: One organism benefits while the other is unaffected.
• Biotic: Living organisms that interact with the environment
• Abiotic: Non-living organisms that interact with the environment
• Carbon cycle: The movement of carbon between the atmosphere, the biosphere and the geosphere.
• Carbon dioxide: Greenhouse gas that is released by burning fossil fuels.
• Density-dependent factors: factors that affect population size that depend on the density of the population
• Density-independent factors: Factors that affect a population's density independently of population size.
• Some examples of density-dependent factors are: Competition, Predation, Disease, Parasitism, Space availability, and Stress.
• Some examples of density-independent factors are: Natural disasters, Temperature, Sunlight, Human activities, Physical characteristics, and Behaviors.
• Limiting factors: Any factor biotic or abiotic that limits or reduces population size.
• Exponential growth is the accelerating pattern of increasing population size.
• Logistic growth is the expansion of the population decreases while their resources decrease too.
• Carrying capacity (K): The maximum number of individuals of a species that can be supported by an environment without depleting its resources.
• The carrying capacity depends on the amount of food available to support the organisms.