APES Miller 16th Ed. Ch. 3 Vocabulary
About this set
Created by:
Enviroworld on September 1, 2009
Subjects:
Classes:
UPA APES 2012-2013, AP Environmental Science, Enviroworld APES
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
50 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abiotic | nonliving, physical features of the environment, including air, water, sunlight, soil, temperature, and climate |
| aerobic respiration | energy releasing biochemical reactions that use oxygen. |
| anaerobic respiration | Respiration in the absence of oxygen. This produces lactic acid. |
| aquatic life zones | Marine and freshwater portions of the biosphere. |
| atmosphere | the envelope of gases surrounding any celestial body |
| autotrophs | organisms that use energy from sunlight or from chemical bonds in inorganic substances to make organic compounds |
| biological community | All of the populations of organisms living and interacting in a particular area |
| biomass | organic matter that contains stored energy |
| biomes | a community of living organisms of a single major ecological region |
| biosphere | part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere |
| biotic | Pertaining to life; environmental factors created by living organisms |
| carbon cycle | the circulation and reutilization of carbon atoms especially via the process of photosynthesis and respiration. |
| carnivores | Organisms that eat other animals for energy |
| chemosynthesis | process by which some organisms, such as certain bacteria, use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates |
| community | a group of interacting populations of different species |
| consumers | organisms that use the food producers make or eat other consumers |
| decomposers | organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment |
| detritivores | A heterotroph that derives its energy from nonliving organic material |
| distribution | The arrangement of something across Earth's surface |
| ecological efficiency | Percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to another in a food chain or web |
| ecology | scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment |
| ecosystem | a community of organisms and their nonliving environment |
| fermentation | The process by which cells break down molecules to release energy without using oxygen. |
| food chain | a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| food web | consists of the many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem |
| genetic diversity | refers to the sum total of all the different forms of genetic information carried by all organisms living on Earth today |
| gross primary productivity | the rate at which energy is produced in an ecosystem |
| habitat | the area where an organism lives, grows, and develops |
| herbivores | consumers that eat only plants |
| hydrologic cycles | The cycle through which water in the hydrosphere moves; includes such processes as evaporation, precipitation, and surface and groundwater runoff |
| hydrosphere | All the water at and near the surface of the earth, 97% of which is in oceans |
| limiting factor | an environmental factor that prevents a population from increasing |
| limiting factor principle | Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population of a species in an ecosystem, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range of tolerance for the species |
| natural greenhouse effect | The absorption of thermal energy by the atmosphere. It keeps the earth's temperature within a certain range. |
| net primary productivity | the rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem |
| nitrogen cycle | the transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere |
| biogeochemical (nutrient) cycles | elements, chemical compounds and other forms of matter are passed between organisms and parts of the biosphere in a cycle |
| omnivores | a consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| photosynthesis | process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high-energy carbohydrates such as sugars and starches |
| population | a group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area. |
| producers | organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis |
| pyramid of energy flow | energy loss for a simple food chain |
| range of tolerance | Range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive and grow, develop, and function normally. |
| secondary consumers | animals that would feed off of herbivores or primary consumers |
| species | group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| stratosphere | the layer of the atmosphere that contains the ozone layer; temperature increases as you go up |
| sulfur cycle | Cyclic movement of sulfur in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment. |
| third and higher level consumers | Carnivores that feed on other carnivores. |
| trophic level | a step in the movement of energy through an ecosystem; an organism's feeding status in an ecosystem. |
| troposphere | the layer closest to Earth, where almost all weather occurs; the thinnest layer |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.
Set Champions
Scatter Champion
17.0 secs by luisda95
Space Race Champion
5,150 points by maggiekl
Speller Champion
98.0% correct by selenguyen
Completed “Learn” mode
bow1017 , rafair13 , mister_quiznick , NForth , maggiekl , tiscaleb , jessS329 , leftie99 , luluyohannes , rtrenk , Ahzie Plus, VidaVivace