cha 5 Flashcards
photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar
producer
Producers are organisms that make their own food; they are also known as autotrophs. They get energy from chemicals or the sun, and with the help of water, convert that energy into useable energy in the form of sugar, or food. The most common example of a producer are plants.
consumer
Consumers constitute the upper trophic levels. Unlike producers, they cannot make their own food. To get energy, they eat plants or other animals, while some eat both. Scientists distinguish between several kinds of consumers. Primary consumers make up the second trophic level.
decomposer
are fungi and bacteria that obtain their nutrients from a dead plant or animal material. They break down the cells of dead organisms into simpler substances, which become organic nutrients available to the ecosystem.
cellular respiration
Cellular respiration comprises the set of reactions that use oxygen as the ultimate electron acceptor to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), generate heat, generate electrochemical gradients, and/or perform oxygen-dependent metabolic transformations.
food chain
food chain, in ecology, the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant.
food web
Image result for food web definition science
Basically, food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith and Smith 2009). It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants through herbivores to carnivores (Krebs 2009). Normally, food webs consist of a number of food chains meshed together.
trophic level
trophic level, step in a nutritive series, or food chain, of an ecosystem. The organisms of a chain are classified into these levels on the basis of their feeding behaviour. … The plants or their products are consumed by the second-level organisms—the herbivores, or plant eaters.
carbon cycle
Carbon flows between each reservoir in an exchange called the carbon cycle, which has slow and fast components. Any change in the cycle that shifts carbon out of one reservoir puts more carbon in the other reservoirs
nitrogen fixing bacteria
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that are capable of transforming nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into “fixed nitrogen” compounds, such as ammonia, that are usable by plants.
nitrogen cycle
The nitrogen cycle is a repeating cycle of processes during which nitrogen moves through both living and non-living things: the atmosphere, soil, water, plants, animals and bacteria. In order to move through the different parts of the cycle, nitrogen must change forms.
phosphorus cycle
The phosphorous cycle is the biochemical process by which phosphorous travels from its source in rocks through different ecosystems to living organisms. The phosphorous cycle has 5 steps or stages and branches
ecological succession
Ecological succession is the process that describes how the structure of a biological community (that is, an interacting group of various species in a desert, forest, grassland, marine environment, and so on) changes over time. … The structure of this community becomes more complex as new species arrive on the scene.
primary succession
primary succession, type of ecological succession (the evolution of a biological community’s ecological structure) in which plants and animals first colonize a barren, lifeless habitat.
secondary succession
Secondary succession occurs when the severity of disturbance is insufficient to remove all the existing vegetation and soil from a site. Many different kinds of disturbances, such as fire, flooding, windstorms, and human activities (e.g., logging of forests) can initiate secondary succession.
