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Biogeochemical cycles are the pathways by which chemicals, such as carbon, nitrogen, and water, circulate through both the biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) components of Earth.

Conservation biology is a multidisciplinary science that deals with the conservation of genes, species, communities, and ecosystems to prevent species extinction and to maintain biodiversity.

Allopatric speciation occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated from each other to an extent that prevents or interferes with genetic interchange, eventually leading to the evolution of new species.

Ecological succession is the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time, with sequential stages from pioneer to climax communities.

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

An ecological footprint measures the environmental demand of an individual or society, including the area of biologically productive land and water needed to supply the resources a person or population consumes and to assimilate the wastes they generate.

Edge effects refer to the changes in population or community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats.

Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

Trophic levels are the hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, comprising producers, consumers, and decomposers, which are defined by how they obtain energy.

Introduced species, also known as non-native or exotic species, are species living outside their native distributional range, which have arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental.

Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of individuals of a species that an environment can support sustainably without degrading the environment.

Camouflage is an adaptation that allows organisms to blend in with their surroundings to avoid detection by predators or to sneak up on prey.

Habitat fragmentation is the process by which habitat loss results in the division of large, continuous habitats into smaller, more isolated remnants.

The competitive exclusion principle states that two species competing for the same limiting resources cannot coexist at constant population values; one will always outcompete the other.

A limiting factor is a factor that causes population growth to decrease in an ecosystem when it is in short supply.

Biomagnification refers to the increase in concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.

A biome is a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, such as a forest or tundra.

Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth, encompassing diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system.

Predation is an interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and feeds on another organism, the prey.

A keystone species is one that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance, often shaping ecosystem structure.

Primary productivity is the rate at which energy is converted by photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs to organic substances.

Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region.

Population dynamics refer to the branch of life sciences that studies the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems, and the biological and environmental processes driving them (such as birth rates, death rates, and migration).