Chapter 6 - Global Systems Flashcards
Define Biosphere
All living things on Earth
Define Atmosphere
The layers of gases surrounding the planet.
Define the Carbon Cycle
The process by which Carbon is recycled through soil, water, living things and the atmosphere.
Define Denitrifying Bacteria
Bacteria that convert nitrates back into gaseous nitrogen (N2), which is then released back into the atmosphere.
Define Fossil Fuels
Fuels that contain the carbon of plants and animals that died and where preserved remains of once-living organisms.
Define Fossils
The preserved remains of once-living organisms.
Define Hydrosphere
All the liquid water on Earths Surface
Define Leguminous Plants
Plants that can take nitrogen from the air and fix it in their tissues.
Define Lithosphere
The land masses on Earth
Define Nitrogen Cycle
The process by which nitrogen cycles between the living and non-living environments.
Define nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Bacteria that absorb nitrogen from the air and convert it into ammonia and then into nitrated.
Define Sustainable Ecosystems
Ecosystems that are diverse and provide for the needs of the organisms that live here.
Name the process that takes carbon into food chains.
Carbon is taken into the food chains by photosynthesis.
Name the biological process that removes oxygen from the atmosphere.
(N/A)
Define Climate
The long-term averages of weather conditions.
