PRESENTATION OUTLINE
COMMUNITY
-definition: an interacting group of various species in a common location
-example: the community of this temperate forest includes a variety of species of insects, birds, mammals, trees, and other plants
NICHE
-definition: the way in which an organism fits into an ecological community or ecosystem, and the "jobs" of that organism in said community
-example: one niche of a honey bee is to pollinate flowers
HABITAT
-defintion: the actual location in the environment where an organism lives and consists of all the physical and biological resources available to a species
-example: a dry, hot desert is the habitat for a cactus
PARASITISM
-definition: a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host
-example: a mosquito drinks the blood of humans and other animals; the mosquito is supplied with food and nutrients, while the host is at risk of acquiring diseases that the mosquito spreads, such as malaria
MUTUALISM
-definition: a relationship between two organisms in which both benefit from each other
-example: the oxpecker eats the ticks and other parasites off of the zebra; as a result, the oxpecker is supplied with food and the zebra is rid of harmful parasites
BIOMASS
-definition: the amount of living matter in a given habitat, expressed either as the weight of organisms per unit area or as the volume of organisms per unit volume
-example: the total mass of trees in a given habitat is the biomass of that material
HERBIVORE
-definition: an animal that's diet consists mainly of plants
-example: rabbits are herbivores because they only eat plants such as cabbage and carrots
CARNIVORE
-definition: an animal that eats only meat from other animals
-example: foxes are carnivores because their diet consists mainly of small birds and rodents
FOOD CHAIN
-Definition: the series of steps by which energy is obtained, used, and transformed by living things
-example: the plants are eaten by the bug, the chicken eats the bugs, and then the girl eats the chicken
FOOD WEB
-definition: A network of food chains or feeding relationships by which energy and nutrients are passed on from one species of living organisms to another.
-example: the photo on the left
