Ecology Crossword Puzzle

the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.
the ecosystem comprising the entire earth and the living organisms that inhabit it.
a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem.
a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it.
all the individuals of one species in a given area.
a system, or a group of interconnected elements, formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.
a complex biotic community characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under the climatic conditions of the region, especially such a community that has developed to climax.
the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism.
the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals.
the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism.
the substance or substances of which any physical object consists or is composed.
the amount of living matter in a given habitat, expressed either as the weight of organisms per unit area or as the volume of organisms per unit volume of habitat.
chemical substance that living organisms obtain from the environment to carry out life processes and sustain life.
the flow of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms and the physical environment.
the process, performed by certain bacteria found in the nodules of leguminous plants, that make the atmospheric nitrogen available for use in organisms.
the process of removing nitrogen compounds from the soil back into nitrogen gas.
an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.
an environmental factor that tends to limit population size.
an organism’s ability to survive biotic and abiotic factors.
the progressive replacement of one community by another until a climax community is established.