Key Terms

Term	Definition
Habitat	A place where plants and animals live
Environment	Everything that surrounds an organism, including the physical environment and biotic environment
Population	Made up of organisms of the same kind that live in a particular habitat
Community	Made up of the different plant and animal populations living together
Ecosystem	Made up of the habitat together with the community of organisms living in it
Ecology	Study of ecoystems
Ecologist	Person that studies ecology

Physical (abiotic) Environment

Each habitat is unique, has its own physical (abiotic) environment
Factors:
- light
- temperature
- mineral salts
- salinity
- pH
- air
- water
Physical factors differ between habitats and ecosystems
Organisms adapt to environments by adjusting their physical and/or behavioural characteristics

Make food through photosynthesis
Sheep need light to see so they can move around, find food and avoid danger
Earthworm burrow deeply into soil to avoid light. Come out only at night to feed and reproduce
Larger leaves to capture more sunlight