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| the sicentific discipline in whihc the relationships among living organisms and the interaction the organisms have with their environments |
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| a scientist that studies ecology |
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| relatively thin layer of earth and its atmosphere that supports life |
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| any livng factor in an organism's environment |
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| any nonlivng factor in an organism's environment |
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| a group of organism's of the same species that occupy the same geographic place at the same time |
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| all the interacting populations of different species that live in the same geographic community |
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| biological community and all the nonliving factors that affect it |
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| large group of ecosystems that share the same climate and have similar types of communities |
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| physical area in which an organism lives |
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| role or position of an organism in its environment |
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| act of one organism feeding on another organism |
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| close mutualistic, parasitic, or commensal association between 2 or more species that live together |
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| symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit |
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| symbitotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other organism is neither helped nor harmed |
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| symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of another organism |
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| organism that cpatures energy from sunlight or inorganic substances ti produce its own food; provides the foundation of the food supply for other organisms also called a producer |
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| organism that cannot make its own food and gets its nutrients and energy requirements by feeding on other organisms; also called a consumer |
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| heterotroph that eats only plants |
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| heterotroph that preys on other heterotrophs |
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| heterotroph that consumes both plants and animals |
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| heterotroph that composes organic material and returns the nutrient to soil, air, and water making the nutrients available to other organisms |
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| each step in a food chain or food web |
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| simplified model that shows a single path for energy flow through an ecosystem |
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| model that shows many interconnected food chians and pathways in which energy and matter flow thorugh an ecosystem |
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| total mass ofliving matter at each trohpic level |
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| anything that takes up space and has mass |
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| chemical substance that living organisms obtain from the environment to carry out life processes and sustain life |
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| exchange of matter through the biosphere involving living organisms, chemical processes, and geological processes |
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| process in which nitrogen gas is captured and converted into a form plants can use |
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| process in which fixed nitrogen compounds are converted back into nitrogen gas and returned to the atmosphere |
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| studies water processes such as the distribution in nature, the water flow in a dam or river, or the water flow in a sewer or a city drinking-water system |
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| process in which water evaporates from the inside of leaves to the outside through stomata |
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