Definitions

The following common terms can be used to describe living things in their environment:

• environment - all the conditions that surround a living organism
• habitat - the place where an organism lives
• population - all the members of a single species that live in a habitat
• community - all the populations of different organisms that live together in a habitat
• ecosystem - a community and the habitat in which it lives

Each zone of this oak tree is home to a distinct community of organisms

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a measure of the variety of different species living in a habitat. The greater the number of different species in a habitat, the greater its biodiversity.