Let's Eat!
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Created by:
NilesTesla on January 31, 2012
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Description:
Words relating to the transfer of raw material and energy within the biosphere
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20 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 trophic level | a stage in a food chain that reflects the number of times energy has been transferred through feeding |
| organic | living, from life, elements in a form that organisms can use in the body |
| inorganic | nonliving, not from life, elements in a form that organisms cannot use in the body |
| photosynthesis | the name of the process used by some organisms (green plants, cyanobacteria) to change solar energy into stored chemical energy - inorganic carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are turned into sugar, an organic compound |
| autotroph | an organism that can create its own stored chemical energy and organic compounds |
| heterotroph | an organism that cannot create its own stored chemical energy and organic compounds |
| producer | the first trophic level - green plants and bacteria can create their own stored chemical energy and don't feed on other organisms - they pass on organic compounds |
| primary consumer | the second trophic level - herbivores and omnivores get stored chemical energy and organic compounds by feeding on plants- they pass on organic compounds |
| secondary consumer | the third trophic level - carnivores (eat flesh) and omnivores (eat flesh and plants) get stored chemical energy and organic compounds by feeding on herbivores (eat plants)- they pass on organic compounds |
| tertiary consumer | the fourth trophic level - carnivores and omnivores get stored chemical energy and organic compounds by feeding on other carnivores and omnivores- they pass on organic compounds |
| decomposer | the final trophic level - detrivores get stored chemical energy and organic compounds by feeding on dead producers and consumers- they pass on inorganic compounds |
| niche | each species has a habitat with the right food, temperature, light level, and water level |
| adaptation | each species evolves special physical characteristics and behaviors to help it succeed in its niche |
| competition | interaction in a niche when species work against each other, each one trying to take over |
| symbiosis | interaction in a niche when species work with each other, there are three variations-commensualism, mutualism, and parasitism |
| commensalism | type of symbiosis when one species gains while the other is not affected |
| mutualism | type of symbiosis when species working together both gain |
| parasitism | type of symbiosis when one species gains while the other is harmed |
| predation | interaction in a niche when one species (predator) hunts and eats the other (prey), the populations balance each other |
| extinction | a species that cannot adapt to changes in its niche will cease to exist and disappear forever |
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