Ecosystems key words Flashcards
Nutrients?
Minerals containing nitrogen and phosphates
Biome?
A large scale ecosystem
Food web?
The complex relationships of energy transfer between organisms in an ecosystem
Store?
Where nutrients are kept before being transferred to another component of the ecosystem
Biomass?
Amount of living matter in an ecosystem
Secondary consumer?
The third tropic level consisting of organisms that eat primary consumers
Leaching?
The process of rainwater dissolving and washing nutrients out of the soil
Carnivore?
An animal that only eats other animals/meat
Nutrient flows?
The transfer of nutrients between components
Decomposer?
Organisms that break down dead organic matter in the soil
Primary producer?
Green plants that photosynthesise using the suns energy
Biotic?
The living components of an ecosystem
Abiotic?
Non living components of an ecosystem
Herbivore?
An organism that only eats plants (primary consumer)
Ecosystem key services?
The benefits provided to people from ecosystems
Food chain?
The simple relationship of energy transfer between different organisms in and ecosystem
Ecosystem?
A community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their non living environment
Hot spot?
A region with a particularly high variety of organisms
Ecosystem goods?
The tangible things we get from ecosystems
Secondary forest?
Tropical vegetation that grows back after the original trees have been felled
Ecological island?
Created when deforestation happens around a patch of forest
Deforestation?
The unsustainable felling of trees
Vegetation?
Plants growing on the land surface
