ECOLOGY

• Ecology


  The study of relationships of organisms with each other and their environment
• Ecosystem


  A community of living organisms interacting with each other and their environment
• Environment


  The combination of factors that surround and act upon an organism
• Factors in the environment

  • Abiotic factors
  • Biotic factors
• Abiotic factors


  • All of the non-living chemical and physical factors
  • Examples include climatic factors, edaphic factors, aquatic factors, topographic factors
• Biotic factors


  • Result from the activities of living organisms in the environment
  • Examples include predation, symbiosis, competition, disease, feeding relationships, pollination, dispersal
• Habitat


  The place where a particular organism lives
• Niche


  The role of an organism in an ecosystem
• Species


  A group of individuals of common ancestry that closely resemble each other and are normally capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring
• Population


  A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time and able to breed with each other
• Community


  All the populations of different species found living in a particular habitat