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An organism that feeds on dead or decaying organisms. Example: Vultures feed on dead animals.

The enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or both. Example: Runoff from agriculture leading to algae blooms.

Economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources. Example: Using solar panels to produce energy rather than burning coal.

A symbiotic relationship where both species benefit. Example: Clownfish living among sea anemone.

An organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals. Example: Plants producing food via photosynthesis.

The process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Two types are primary and secondary succession. Example: Secondary succession occurs in an area where a forest fire has cleared the land.

An organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food. Example: A hawk hunting for mice.

A species that is not native to a specific location and has a tendency to spread, which can cause damage to the ecosystem. Example: The introduction of cane toads in Australia.

A land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, and it functions as its own distinct ecosystem. Example: The Florida Everglades.

The global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Example: Earth’s biosphere extends from deep sea vents to the upper atmosphere where birds fly.

Small free-floating animals that form part of an aquatic ecosystem. Example: Krill is a type of zooplankton eaten by many marine species.

An organism that breaks down dead plant and animal material, returning nutrients to the ecosystem. Example: Fungi breaking down a fallen tree.

The role and position a species has in its environment, including all its interactions with biotic and abiotic factors. Example: Bees pollinating plants while feeding on nectar.

A species that is native to a particular area and not naturally found elsewhere. Example: The Galápagos tortoise is endemic to the Galápagos Islands.

The trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface. Example: Carbon dioxide trapping heat on Earth.

The variety of life in the world, in a particular habitat, or in an ecosystem. Example: The Amazon Rainforest has a high biodiversity, including numerous species of insects, birds, and mammals.

The maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the available resources. Example: An island can only support a certain number of deer before food becomes scarce.

An organism that feeds exclusively on plants. Example: Cows grazing on grass.

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area. Example: The deer population in a forest.

A large community of plants and animals that occupies a distinct region defined by its climate and vegetation. Example: Tundra, a biome with cold temperatures and short growing seasons.

An organism that eats only animals. Example: A lion primarily feeds on other animals.

An interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. Example: the symbiotic relationship between clownfish and sea anemones.

A resource which can be used repeatedly because it is replaced naturally. Examples include timber, wind, and solar energy.

An organism that feeds on dead organic matter, particularly plant detritus. Example: Earthworms consuming fallen leaves.

The natural environment in which a species lives. Example: The polar bear's habitat is the Arctic sea ice.

The position that an organism occupies in a food chain, which is representative of its diet and the chain's energy flow. Example: Plants are at the first trophic level as primary producers.

The increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain. Example: The concentration of mercury in predatory fish.

A community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. Example: A coral reef ecosystem with fish, coral, and aquatic plants.

The removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. Example: Cutting down trees in the Amazon rainforest for cattle ranching.

The process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Example: A bare rock surface eventually becoming a mature forest.

A species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed, the ecosystem would change drastically. Example: Sea otters in kelp forest ecosystems.

The movements of chemical elements between living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components within ecosystems. Example: The water cycle.

The chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into organic compounds, especially by certain microorganisms as part of the nitrogen cycle. Example: Bacteria in the roots of legumes converting nitrogen gas into ammonia.

The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a by-product.

The basic unit of biological classification, a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. Example: The domestic dog is a species, Canis lupus familiaris.

A linear network of links in a food web, starting from producer organisms and ending at apex predators. Example: Grass → Rabbit → Fox.