Ecology Flashcards
Energy pyramid
A model that shows the available amount of energy in each trophic layer in a ecosystem
Food web
a model that shows many different feeding relationships among living things in a given area
Decomposer
organisms which carry out the process of decomposition by breaking down dead or decaying organisms
Food Chain
a model that shows one set of feeding relationships among living things
Coniferous
plants that produce reproductive organs called cones
Consumer
an organism that eats other living things to get energy; an organism that does not produce its own food (related word: consume)
Biome
a major ecological community such as grassland, tropical rain forest, or desert
Deciduous
a forest containing trees that lose their leaves each year
Ecology
the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
Cycle
the movement of a substance through different reservoirs or stages
Nitrogen Cycle
a process in which nitrogen in the atmosphere enters the soil and becomes part of living organisms then eventually returns to the atmosphere
Biotic factors
The living things in an ecosystem are called biotic factors. Living things include plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and more. The non living parts of an ecosystem are called abiotic factors. In an ecosystem some abiotic factors are sunlight, temperature atmospheric gases water and soil.
Water Cycle
the continual movement of water between the land, ocean, and the air through predictable physical processes
Abiotic Factor
In biology and ecology, abiotic components or abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. Abiotic factors and the phenomena associated with them underpin all biology
Producer
an organism that makes its own food; an organism that does not consume other plants or animals
