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ecology – the study of living things and their environments
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environment – everything that surrounds a living thing
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community – all populations that live in a certain place
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ecosystem – living and nonliving things in an environment, together with their interactions
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population – group of the same kind of organism living in a certain place
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habitat – place where an organism lives
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niche – organism’s functional role, or job, in its habitat
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limiting factors – conditions in the environment that put limits on where an organism can live
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nitrogen-fixing bacteria – bacteria that can use nitrogen in soil to make nitrogen compounds
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consumer – organisms that obtain food by eating other organisms
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decomposer – organism that breaks down the wastes or remains of other organisms
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producer – organism that makes its own food
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scavenger – animal that eats only dead organisms
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energy pyramid – way of showing how energy moves through a food chain
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food chain – a chain of organisms which shows the feeding relationships in a habitat
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food web – a series of interconnected food chains
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biome – large region of the earth with particular plant and animal communities
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climatic factors – factors such wind, water, light, temperature that affect a habitat
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conservation – wise use of natural resources
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natural resource – materials found in nature that are used by living things
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nonrenewable resource – materials found in nature that CANNOT be renewed or replaced
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renewable resource – natural resouces that CAN bereplaced
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pollution – release of harmful materials into the environment
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biosphere – thin zone of the earth that supports all life
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predator – animal that hunts and eats other animals
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prey – animal hunted or caught for food
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adaptation – trait of a living thing that helps it live in its environment
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environment – Everything that surrounds a living thing
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abiotic – non-living factors in an environment
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biotic – living factors in an environment