Ecosystem Key Words

2. the total amount that an ecosystem can hold or carry
4. consisting of non-living things
5. the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems
6. a change in the number of members of a certain plant or animal species
8. a place where an organism makes its home.
10. long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
11. an area classified according to the species that live in that location
12. the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
16. one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed.
19. low concentrations of salt as opposed to seawater
21. an organism that helps hold the system together
22. species that have a strong role in structuring a community
23. consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem
24. one organism benefits and the other organism is harmed.
25. the position of an organism in the food chain
27. human activities, natural disasters, or invasive species.
29. the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
30. Interactions in an ecosystem occur between organisms and themselves, and organisms and the environment.
31. the variations in the plant and animal species living together and connected by food chains and food webs.

1. those that are found only on land
3. predator that exists at the very top of the food chain
7. when a new patch of land is created or exposed for the first time
9. anything that constrains a population's size and slows or stops it from growing.
13. the species that first colonize new habitats created by disturbance.
14. the number of species and abundance of each species that live in a particular location.
15. the ability of a system to continue functioning under changing conditions or during disturbances.
17. aquatic environments with high levels of dissolved salt
18. the biological variation that occurs within species.
20. both organisms benefit
26. sustain plant and animal life and regulate water flow
28. Consisting of living organisms