Ch 1: The Web of Life
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23 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 ecology | study of the living and nonliving parts of the environment and how they affect organisms |
| biology | study of living things (organisms) and life processes |
| producers | organisms (plants) that make their own food, absorb light energy from the sun and convert its energy into chemical energy of sugars (food) |
| consumers | organisms unable of making their own food |
| decomposers | consumers that break down the bodies of dead plants and animals during the process of decay, get energy from chemical energy left in the waste to grow and reproduce |
| microorganisms | decomposers too small to be seen with the unaided eye, such as bacteria, found in the soil |
| community | all the organisms (producers, consumers, and decomposers) in one area |
| food chain | a pathway that tells what eats what |
| food web | formed when all the food chains in a community are connected to each other |
| chemical energy | energy in food, found in structure of molecules (sugar), mostly released w/in cells when food is being digested, some is converted to heat, may remain in waste if not used |
| photosynthesis | basis for almost all food energy, plants absorb light energy from the sun and simple compounds from the soil and air(6CO2 & 6H20) and convert it into chemical energy of sugars (food) |
| atoms | minute particles that make up matter, single atoms make an element |
| element | matter that is made of a single type of atom, most occur as molecules (combinations of 2 or more atoms) |
| compound | matter that is made up of more than one type of atom linked together |
| biosphere | includes all organisms on the earth as well as the air, earth, and water surrounding them, extends from the bottoms of the oceans to the air above earth |
| independent variable | only present in one group, usually the thing you are testing the affect of, often an amount |
| experimental group | the group that has the independent variable, iv, has "something" added to it |
| dependent variable | what is being measured in both all groups, is dependent on the independent variable |
| control group | this group is the least fiddled with, the iv is not present, used for comparison |
| Scientific Method | method of obtaining scientific knowledge involving a series of steps: identify a problem based on observations, research problem, hypothesis, experiment, evaluate data, and conclusion |
| hypothesis | a statement that attempts to explain an observation |
| theory | an accepted hypothesis with repeated testing,valid as long as there's no evidence to prove it incorrect (can be disprove), uses also causes, caused by, is the result of, thus, because |
| law | explains things but doesn't describe them, can't explain why it happens, uses whenever, never, only, every |
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