Ecosystems Vocabulary Flashcards
a model that shows the available amount of energy in each trophic layer in an ecosystem
ecological pyramid
a model that shows many different feeding relationships among living things
A
Food web
organisms which carry out the process of decomposition by breaking down dead or decaying organisms
Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi
. a model that shows one set of feeding relationships among living things:
Food chain
a type of plant with needle-like leaves that uses cones to reproduce
Conifers
an organism that eats other living things to get energy; an organism that does not produce its own food (related word: consume): _
Heterotroph
a major ecological community such as grassland, tropical rain forest, or desert
Terrestrial Biomes
forest containing trees that lose their leaves each year
Deciduous
the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings: _
Ecology
a process that repeats
Repetition
a process in which nitrogen in the atmosphere enters the soil and becomes part of living organisms then eventually returns to the atmosphere:
ammonification
all of the living parts of an ecosystem:
Biotic factors
the continual movement of water between the land, ocean, and the air
Water cycle
all of the nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Abiotic factors
an organism that makes its own food; an organism that does not consume other plants or animals
Autotroph
