| Term | Definition |
|---|
| ecology | scientific study of interactions between organisms and organisms and their surroundings |
| biosphere | all the parts of the planet where life exists |
| hydrosphere | water |
| lithosphere | rock |
| ecosphere | living things |
| atmosphere | air |
| levels of interaction | organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere |
| 3 basic approaches to research | observation, experimentation, modeling |
| sunlight | the main source of energy for life on earth |
| autotrophs | scientific name for producers |
| photosynthesis equation | 6CO2 + 12H2O using sunlight and chlorophyll C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O |
| types of producers | on land: plants; freshwater: algae; salt water: phytoplankton; tide flats/salt marshes: cyanobacteria |
| chemosynthesis | process in which organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates |
| heterotrophs | scientific name for consumers |
| herbivores | heterotrophs that eat only plants |
| carnivores | heterotrophs that eat only meat |
| omnivores | heterotrophs that eat both plants and meat |
| detritivores | heterotrophs that eat dead plant and animal materal |
| detritus | dead plant and animal material |
| flow of energy | one direction; sun or inorganic compounds, autotrophs, various heterotrophs |
| food chains | show the direction and organisms involved in the flow of energy in a linear fashion |
| food web | shows the more complex relationships; consists of lots of food chains linked into network |
| trophic level | each step in a food chain or food web |
| autorotrophs | always the first trophic level |
| herbivores | second trophic level consumers |
| carnivores and omnivores | third trophic level or above consumers |
| ecological pyramids | graphically show the relative amounts of energy or matter at each trophic level |
| 10% | only about ____of the energy available within one trophic level is available (transferred) to the next level |
| biomass | the total amount of living tissue within a trophic level |
| pyramid of numbers | based on numbers of individual organisms at each trophic level (may not even be shaped like a pyramid) |
| recycled | unlike the one-way flow of energy, matter is ___________(biogeochemical cycles) |
| evaporation | liquid to gas |
| transpiration | plants putting water back into the air |
| precipitation (condensation) | from gas to a liquid |
| runoff | precipitation (rain) that moves over the surface of land |
| seepage | precipitation that moves into the soil |
| groundwater | precipitation that moves into rocks |
| nutrients | all the chemical substances that an organism needs to sustain life |
| nutrient cycles | the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle |
| primary productivity | the rate at which new organic matter is created by producers |
| limiting nutrient | a nutrient that is scarce or cycles slowly through an ecosystem |
| eutrophic | term that means that there are too many nutrients in the water and can cause algal blooms |
| oligotrophic | term that means that there are relatively few nutrients |
| inorganic chemical compounds | other source of energy |
| biogeochemical cycles | how nutrients are passed between organisms and the environment |
| species | group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| community | assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area |
| biome | group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities |
| population | group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area |
| decomposers | bacteria and fungi |
| nitrogen fixation | the conversion atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia |
| denitrification | the conversion of nitrates into nitrogen gas |
Combine with other sets
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