Abiotic: The nonliving chemical and physical factors that affect ecosystems.

Biotic: The living components of an ecosystem.

Ecology: The scientific study of how living organisms relate and interact with each other, and with their natural environment.

Ecosystem: A community or system in nature that contains organisms that live, feed, interact and reproduce within the same environment or area.

Diversity: From an ecological perspective, diversity describes the different forms of organisms or life found within an ecosystem.

Fecundity: The potential ability to reproduce abundantly.

Habitat: The natural environment within which particular organisms live due to the presence of factors which the organisms need in order to survive.

Hierarchy: A way of arranging things in graded compartments.

Homeostatis: The tendency toward a relatively stable equillibrium between interdependent elements.

Keystone Species: A species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological system and whose impact on the community is greater than expected because of their relative numbers. The removal of keystone species has a far reaching effect on the unchecked growth of other organisms. They are usually prey and plant species.

Meme: A style, behaviour or idea that passes from person to person in a culture. Memes are compared to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to certain pressures.

Niche: A subset of an ecosystem determined primarily by resource availability and competition.

Reciprocal Altruism: An organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its ability to survive while increasing another organism’s ability to survive, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar manner at a later time.

Technological Evolution: A theory that describes how to use technology — tools, machines. automation — to replace physical labour with efficient mental labour for greater control over our natural environment.