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Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of individuals of a given species that an environment can support sustainably without being degraded over time.

Ecosystem resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly.

Ecological restoration is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action.

The competitive exclusion principle states that two species competing for the exact same resources cannot stably coexist, and one will eventually outcompete and exclude the other.

The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth, important for regulating climate and sustaining life.

A biome is a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, like forest or tundra, characterized by specific climate conditions and plant formations.

Density-dependent factors are influences on population growth that change in intensity as the population density changes, such as disease, competition, and predation.

A food chain describes the feeding relationships between different organisms in a particular ecosystem or habitat, often represented with arrows showing the flow of energy from one trophic level to another.

An ecological niche is the role and position a species has in its environment, including all its interactions with biotic and abiotic factors.

Symbiosis is an interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both (mutualism), one (parasitism), or neither (commensalism).

Trophic levels refer to the hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.

An ecological footprint is a measure of human impact on Earth's ecosystems, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

A food web is a complex network of feeding relationships among various organisms in an ecosystem, showing how different food chains interact and overlap.

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time, either after a disturbance or in a newly formed habitat.

Biotic factors are the living parts of an ecosystem (like plants and animals), whereas abiotic factors are the non-living parts (like water, sunlight, and soil).

Population ecology is the branch of ecology that studies the structure and dynamics of populations, and the environmental processes influencing these dynamics.

Mutualism is a type of symbiotic relationship where both organisms involved derive a benefit, such as nutrition, protection, or reproduction.

Ecological facilitation refers to the process by which some species increase the suitability of an environment for themselves and for other species, often playing a crucial role in succession.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem, and includes species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity.

A keystone species is an organism that plays a crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions, and without which the ecosystem would be drastically different.

A habitat is the natural environment in which an organism lives, including both the biotic and abiotic factors that affect it.

A limnic eruption is a rare natural disaster in which dissolved carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, suffocating wildlife, livestock, and humans.

A climax community is a stable, mature ecological community with little change in the composition of species, which has reached a steady state under a given set of environmental conditions.

Primary succession occurs in lifeless areas where soil has yet to form, starting from bare rock, while secondary succession happens in areas where an ecosystem has been disturbed but soil remains.

Pioneer species are the first organisms to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, starting a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem.

Biomagnification refers to the increasing concentration of a toxic substance within each successive link in the food chain.

A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet, such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel.

The 10% rule is an approximation that only about 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next, with the rest lost primarily as heat.

Density-independent factors are influences on population growth that affect populations regardless of their density, such as natural disasters or climate phenomena.