A species that has been introduced by human action to a location where it did not previously occur naturally and has spread widely throughout the new location and competes with native species.

A series of plants and animals linked by their feeding relationships and showing the transfer of food energy from one organism to another.

A group of individuals of the same species occupying a specific area.

A group of organisms that occupy the same position in a food chain; each step of an energy pyramid.

The function, position or role of a species within an ecosystem.

Primary Consumer in this Energy Pyramid?

A graphical representation designed to show the relationship between energy and trophic levels of a given ecosystem.

The natural environment in which an organism normally lives, including the surroundings and other physical conditions needed to sustain it.

An organism such as a bacterium or fungus that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, making essential components available to plants and other organisms in the ecosystem.

Animals that eat both plants and animals.

The natural process in which those organisms best adapted to the conditions under which they live survive and poorly adapted forms are eliminated.

A group of plants and animals living and interacting with one another in a particular place.

An organism that lives on or in the living body of another species, known as the host, from which it obtains nutrients.

An ecosystem’s resource limit; the maximum number of individuals in a population that the ecosystem can support.

Animals that eat the organic material of dead plants and animals.

Many interconnected food chains within an ecological community.

An organism that has been introduced to an area to which it is not native; exotic or non-native.

Animals that kill and eat other animals.

An organism that is able to produce its own food from non-living materials