Ecology English Glossary

A visual representation or diagram of many interconnected food chains that shows the feeding relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers. A food web gives a more complete picture than a food chain. 

An organism that uses energy from the sun to produce its own food.

An organism that makes its own food and serves as the basic food source in an ecosystem. Examples include plants and trees. Autotroph

The specific role played by an organism or population of organisms in the ecosystem. If 2 species occupy the same niche, they will compete.

An organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing its own nutrients. Heterotroph

The maximum population size of a species that can exist in a specific environment given the food, habitat, water and other resources available.

An animal that only eats plants. 

An organism, generally a bacteria or fungus, that consumes dead organism and organic waste. 

A trophic level is the group of organisms within an ecosystem which occupy the same level in a food chain. 

Any kind of living organism that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm 

Any factor in the environment that limits the size of a population.