Ch. 22-Ecosystems Flashcards
each organism in an ecosystem is one of these 3 energy roles
producer, consumer, decomposer
producer
organism that makes its own food
consumer
organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
herbivore
consumer that eats only plants
carnivore
consumer that eats only animals
omnivore
consumer that eats plants and animals
scavenger
carnivore that feeds on dead organism
decomposer
breaks down waste and returns materials to ecosystem
food chain
series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy
food web
many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem
energy pyramid
shows amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web
in an energy pyramid, most is at _ and least is at_
bottom, top
water cycle
continuous by which water moves from earth to atmosphere
parts of water cycle
evaporation–>condensation–>precipitation–>evaporation
carbon cycle
producers–> consumers–>decomposers–> atmosphere
oxygen cycle
plants–>animals–>plants
nitrogen cycle
air–>soil–>living things–>air
nitrogen fixation
process of changing nitrogen into usable forms by bacteria
biogeography
study of where organisms live
one factor that affected how species are distributed is
the motion of earths continents
continental drift
how the continents move with the plates move
dispersal
movement of organisms from one place to another
dispersal can be caused by
wind, water, living things
exotic species
and organism carried into a new location by people
factors that limit dispersal are
physical barriers, competition, climate change
climate
typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time
