Vocabulary/Background Information

Community

"An association of organisms - plant and animal - each occupying a certain position or ecological niche, inhabiting a common environment, and interacting with each other; all the plants and animals in a particular habitat are bound together by food chains and other interrelations." - Project Wild

Habitat

"The arrangement of food, water, shelter or cover and space suitable to animals' needs. It is the "life range", which must include food and water, as well as escape cover, winter cover, cover to rear young, and even cover in which to play. - Project Wild. Habitat is species specific.

Food Chains

"The transfer of food energy from the source in plants through a series of animals, with repeated eating and being eaten." - Project Wild

Food web

"An interlocking pattern of food chains." -Project Wild

Ecosystem

"A natural unit that includes parts interacting to produce a stable system in which the exchange of materials between the living and nonliving parts follows between closed paths; all living things and their environment in an area of any size, with all linked together by energy and nutrient flow." - Project Wild