Levels of organization
This is a single, individual living thing, such as a deer or a tree.
What is an organism?
This term describes any non-living, physical, or chemical element in an ecosystem.
What is an abiotic factor?
A relationship where both species benefit from an interaction.
What is mutualism?
This term describes the specific physical location where an organism lives and grows.
What is a habitat?
This term refers to the variety of life and different species found within a given ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
This level consists of a group of individuals belonging to the same species and live in the same area at the same time.
What is a population?
This term describes any living or once-living part of an ecosystem.
What is a biotic factor?
An interaction where one organism captures, kills, and consumes an organism for energy.
What is predation?
This term describes an organism's specific "job" or role within its ecosystem.
What is a niche?
This term describes an ecosystem's ability to bounce back and heal after a major disaster.
What is ecosystem resiliency?
This level includes all of the different living populations that interact together in a certain area.
What is a community?
Sunlight, temperature, water, and soil composition are all these types of environmental factors.
What are abiotic factors?
When two or more organisms need the same limited resource, like food, water, or nesting space, harming both organisms' energy levels.
What is competition?
If a dead log on the forest floor is a centipede's habitat, this phrase best describes its niche.
What is acting as a decomposer / eating decaying wood?
While this diagram shows a single, linear path of energy from producer to apex predator, a food web shows a complex network of connected paths.
What is a food chain?
This level includes both the living and the non-living features of the environment interacting together.
What is an ecosystem
Predators, prey, decomposers, and plants are all examples of this type of factor.
What are biotic factors?
A relationship where one species benefits while the other is unaffected.
What is commensalism?
This ecological rule states that two species cannot occupy the exact same niche in the same habitat at the same time if they are competing for the same resources.
What is the competitive exclusion principle?
As energy flows upward through trophic levels, roughly this percentage of energy goes to the next level.
What is 10%?
This is a large regional area identified by its climate and vegetation; it makes up the biosphere.
What is a biome?
If this non-living factor gets too hot, fish like trout can't get enough oxygen to breathe.
What is water temperature?
This is the specific type of symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits by living on or inside another organism and causes it harm.
What is parasitism?
When species divide up food or space to avoid fighting over the same resource, it is known as this two-word term.
What is resource partitioning?
This is the process where toxins build up inside an organism's body over time, impacting the apex predators at the top of the food chain.
What is bioaccumulation?