Ecosystems & Biomes
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Created by:
dstsunflower on June 2, 2011
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44 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Producers | ogranism can make its own food |
| Consumers | energy is obtained by feeding on other organisms |
| Decomposers | breaks down wastes and dead organisms |
| Herbivore | only eats plants |
| Carnivore | only eats animals |
| Omnivore | eats both plants and animals |
| Food Chain | series of events in which one organism eats another to obtain energy |
| Food Web | overlapping food chains |
| Energy Pyramid | shows the amount of energy moving from one feeding level to another in a food web |
| Water Cycle | continuous process of water moving from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back |
| Evaporation | water changes from a liquid to a gas |
| Condensation | gas changes to a liquid |
| Precipitation | rain, snow, sleet, hail |
| Carbon Cycle | the process in an ecosystem in which producers take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and consumers, having eaten producers, release carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide |
| Oxygen Cycle | producers release oxygen as a result of photosynthesis other organisms take the oxygen from the atmosphere for life process |
| Nitrogen Cycle | the transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere |
| Nitrogen Fixation | The process of changing free nitrogen gas into a usable form. |
| Biogeography | the study of where organisms live |
| Continental Drift | theory that states that there was a supercontinent that split into the continents of today |
| Pangaea | the name of the single landmass that broke apart 200 million years ago and gave rise to today's continents |
| Dispersal | the movement of organisms from one place to another |
| Exotic Species | species that are carried to a new location by people |
| Physical Barriers | a barrier that is hard to cross, and limits the dispersal of a species; such as water, mountains and deserts |
| Competition | the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources |
| Climate | Overall weather in an area over a long period of time |
| Biomes | large geographic areas with similar climates and ecosystems |
| Rain Forest | generally warm, humid with heavy yearly rainfall |
| Desert | an area that recieves less that 25 cm of water per year |
| Grassland | mostly grasses and non-woody plants |
| Deciduous Forest | a forest biome with many kinds of trees that lose their leaves each autumn |
| Boreal Forest | where you will smell (coniferous trees) spruce and pine trees |
| Tundra | extremely cold and dry |
| Canopy | dense covering formed by the leafy tops of tall rain forest trees |
| Understory | below the canopy; where shade loving plants grow |
| Temperate Rain Forest | has moderate temperatures, lots of rain |
| Conifereous Trees | trees that produce seeds in cones; have leaves shaped like needles |
| Permafrost | frozen Soil |
| Freshwater Ecosystem | streams, rivers, ponds, lakes |
| Estuary | where freshwater meets saltwater |
| Intertidal Zone | between the highest tideline and the lowest tideline |
| Neritic Zone | below the low-tide line |
| Marine Ecosystem | saltwater ecosystem |
| Scavenger | carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| Savanna | grasslands close to the equator, home to the largest animals on Earth |
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