ECOLOGY

PREDATION

• The preying of one animal on others
• Some execute long chases, outrunning their prey, others ambush or hunt in groups.

SYMBIOSIS

• interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association
• Itpossible for a symbiotic relationship to exist between two organisms of the same species.

POPULATION

• A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time
• Population is also used to study diseases, viruses, and microbes

BIOSPHERE

• regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth
• biosphere is generally believed to have begun evolving about 3.5 billion years ago

HABITAT

• the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
• habitat types help us to understand the wildlife that inhabits them and better protect the land and the species

FOOD CHAIN

• hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.
• is a linear sequence of links in a food web starting from a species called producers

OMNIVORE

• an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin
• diet consisting of a variety of food sources that may include plants, animals, algae, fungi and select bacteria

HERBIVORE

• an animal that feeds on plants.
• Adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage, for the main source of its diet.

BIOMASS

• the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume
• Some kinds of biomass can be burned to produce energy

TROPHIC LEVEL

• organisms that share the same function in the food chain
• each layer of this system relates to the one below it by absorbing a fraction of the energy it consumed