Across
- 3. An organism that obtains nutrients by consuming dead and decaying organic matter, which allows nutrients to be accessible to other organisms.
- 6. A species normally living outside a distribution range that has been introduced through either deliberate or accidental human activity; also can be known as introduced, invasive, alien, non-indigenous, or exotic.
- 8. A complex arrangement of interrelated food chains illustrating the flow of energy between interdependent organisms.
- 10. A term that describes an organism associated with a water environment.
- 11. A process in nature in which organisms possessing certain inherited traits are better able to survive and reproduce compared to others of their species.
- 15. The permanent movement of genes into or out of a population resulting in a change in allele frequencies.
- 18. A relationship between two organisms (i.e., mutualism, in which both organisms benefit; parasitism, in which one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed; and commensalism, in which one organism benefits and the other organism does not benefit or is not harmed).
- 22. A term that describes a living or once‐living organism in an ecosystem.
- 23. A large area or geographical region with distinct plant and animal groups adapted to that environment.
- 24. An organism that uses a primary energy source to conduct photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
- 25. A group of biomacromolecules that interact with biological systems and their environments.
- 27. The study of short‐ and long‐term changes in the number of individuals for a given population, as affected by birth, death, immigration, and emigration.
- 30. The study of the relationships between organisms and their interactions with the environment.
- 31. A species that is found in its originating location and is generally restricted to that geographic area.
- 32. A series of predictable and orderly changes within an ecosystem over time.
- 34. An area that provides an organism with its basic needs for survival.
- 35. Different populations of organisms interacting in a shared environment.
Down
- 1. A system composed of organisms and nonliving components of an environment.
- 2. The position of an organism in relation to the flow of energy and inorganic nutrients through an ecosystem (e.g., producer, consumer, and decomposer).
- 4. A term that describes an organism associated with a land environment.
- 5. A proposed explanation in evolutionary biology stating that species are generally stable over long periods of time that occasionally there are rapid changes that affect some species, which can quickly result in a new species.
- 7. The total surroundings of an organism or a group of organisms.
- 9. A form of life; an animal, plant, fungus, protist or bacterium.
- 12. The zone of life on Earth; sum total of all ecosystems on Earth.
- 13. The changing of organic matter into other chemical forms such as fuels.
- 14. Chemical or physical factor that limits the existence, growth, abundance, or distribution of an individual organism or a population.
- 16. The artificial cultivation of food, fiber, and other goods by the systematic growing and harvesting of various organisms.
- 17. A proposed explanation in evolutionary biology stating that new species arise from the result of slight modifications (mutations and resulting phenotypic changes) over many generations.
- 19. The movement of abiotic factors between the living and nonliving components within ecosystems; also known as nutrient cycles (i.e., water cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, and nitrogen cycle).
- 20. A model that illustrates the biomass productivity at multiple trophic levels in a given ecosystem.
- 21. A decrease in genetic variation caused by the formation of a new population by a small number of individuals from a larger population.
- 26. A process in which energy changes from one form to another form while some of the energy is lost to the environment.
- 28. When individuals or groups of organisms compete for similar resources such as territory, mates, water, and food in the same environment.
- 29. A term that describes a nonliving factor in an ecosystem.
- 33. An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms or their remains.