Upload
christopher-sharp
View
213
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Vocabulary Words
Flow of Matter and Energy
Producer
an organism that uses sunlight directly to
make sugar which in turn makes energy
Consumer
an organism that eats producers or other
organisms for energy
Decomposer
an organism that gets energy by breaking down
the remains of dead organism and consuming
or absorbing the nutrients
Plankton
The collection of small or microscopic organisms,
including algae and protozoans, that float or drift in great
numbers in fresh or salt water, especially at or near the surface,
and serve as food for fish and other larger organisms.
Phytoplankton
consisting of free-floating algae, protists, and cyanobacteria.
Phytoplankton form the beginning of the food chain for aquatic
animals and fix large amounts of carbon, which would otherwise be
released as carbon dioxide.
phyto- a combining form meaning “plant”
Zooplankton
a collection or mass of small or microscopic floating animals, including corals, rotifers, sea anemones, jellyfish. copepods, and krill, and microorganisms
once classified as animals, such as dinoflagellates and other
protozoans
Food Web
A complex diagram representing the many energy pathways in a
real ecosystem
Food Chain
A diagram that represents how the
energy in food molecules flows from one organism to the
next
Energy Pyramid
A diagram shaped like a triangle showing the loss of energy at each
level of the food energy
Predator
An organism that eats other organisms
Prey
An organism that is eaten by another
organism
Carnivore
A consumer that eats animals
Omnivore
A consumer that eats a variety of
organisms
Herbivore
A consumer that eats plants
Scavenger
An animal that feeds on the bodies of dead
animals
Host
a living animal or plant from which a
parasite obtains nutrition
Parasite
an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known
as the host, from the body of which it obtains
nutriment.
Water cycle
The cycle of evaporation and
condensation that controls the distribution
of the earth's water
Precipitation
water that moves from the atmosphere to the
land and ocean, including rain, snow,
sleet and hail.
Evaporationthe change of state from liquid to vapor
Condensationthe conversion of water from the vapor state to a denser liquid or solid
state
Transpirationthe loss of water from plants leaves through
opening called stomata
Ground water
Water beneath the earth's surface
Carbon cycle
the movement of atoms of carbon
through the biosphere by photosynthesis, decomposition, and
respiration
Photosynthesis
The process in green plants where carbohydrates are
made from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy
source. Photosynthesis also produces the sugars that feed the plant and release oxygen
as a byproduct.
Decomposition
the breakdown of dead materials into carbon dioxide and
water
Respirationthe exchange of gases
between living cells and their environment
Combustionthe process of burning, includes the burning of
fossil fuels
Nitrogen cycle
the circulation of nitrogen; nitrates from the soil are absorbed by plants which are eaten by animals that
die and decay returning the nitrogen back to the soil
Nitrogen fixation
the process of changing nitrogen gas into forms
that plants can use.