Ecology

2. all the biotic organisms on Earth and the ecosystems they inhabit, including the oceans and the atmosphere
6. renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals
8. an animal that naturally preys on others
9. a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms and ending at an apex predator or decomposer
11. an individual living thing.
12. disease, competition, and predation
15. the living organisms (biotic) in an area and the non-living aspects (abiotic) of the environment
16. the role of a species in its ecosystem
17. the parts of the environment that are alive, or were alive and then died
18. an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem
19. an animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food
20. an introduced, nonnative organism (disease, parasite, plant, or animal) that begins to spread or expand its range from the site of its original introduction

1. all of the populations of different species that live in the same area and interact with one another
3. a group of organisms belonging to the same species (a group of individuals that can breed to produce fertile young) that live in the same area and interact with one another
4. consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem
5. the physical environment in which a species lives and to which it is adapted
7. interaction between organisms or species in which both require a resource that is in limited supply
10. parts of the environment that have never been alive
13. study of how living organisms interact with each other and their environment
14. any force that affects the size of a population of living things regardless of the density of the population
17. a group of ecosystems with the same climate and dominant biotic communities found in different locations throughout the biosphere