HABITAT

place where an organism or a community of organisms lives, including all living and nonliving factors or conditions of the surrounding environment. A host organism inhabited by parasites is as much a habitat as a terrestrial place such as a grove of trees or an aquatic locality such as a small pond. The smallest topographic unit of a habitat with a characteristic uniformity of plant and animal species and environmental conditions, such as a sandy beach, is called a biotope. Microhabitat is a term for the conditions and organisms in the immediate vicinity of a plant or animal.