environmental biology - cycles

Question 1

biosphere

Answer 1

regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere at the earths surface occupied by living organisms

Question 2

species

Answer 2

group of individuals with like traits

Question 3

population

Answer 3

a group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time

Question 4

community

Answer 4

formed by populations of different species living together and interacting with each other

Question 5

ecosystem

Answer 5

a community and its interaction with the abiotic environment

Question 6

trophic level

Answer 6

hierarchal levels in an ecosystem decided by nutritional relationships and function

Question 7

heterotroph

Answer 7

organisms that feed on other organisms

Question 8

autotroph

Answer 8

organisms that produce their own food

Question 9

saprotroph

Answer 9

organisms that feed on dead organisms

Question 10

detrivore

Answer 10

heterotrophs that obtain nutrients from dead or decaying matter

Question 11

biotic

Answer 11

living matter

Question 12

abiotic

Answer 12

nonliving matter

Question 13

food web

Answer 13

system of independent and interlocking food chains

Question 14

food chain

Answer 14

hierarchical series of organisms, each dependent on the next as a source of food

Question 15

niche

Answer 15

organisms role in the environment

Question 16

habitat

Answer 16

area where a plant or animal lives and grows

Question 17

evaporation

Answer 17

h2o converted to vapor by the sun and transferred from the surface to the atmosphere

Question 18

transpiration

Answer 18

h2o vapor is released by plants into the atmosphere

Question 19

condensation

Answer 19

h2o vapor is transformed into liquid h2o droplets in the air (clouds and fog)

Question 20

precipitation

Answer 20

h2o vapor in the atmosphere condenses into liquid rain or solid snow and returns to the earth

Question 21

infiltration

Answer 21

flow of h2o from the ground surface into the soil

Question 22

runoff

Answer 22

variety of ways the water moves along the ground

Question 23

essential elements of life

Answer 23

chnops- carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen phosphorous, and sulfur

Question 24

carbon flux

Answer 24

produces carbon

Question 25

carbon sink

Answer 25

holds carbon

Question 26

nitrogen fixation

Answer 26

convert n2 in the atmosphere to ammonia (nh3) in the soil, done by plants

Question 27

ammonification

Answer 27

saprotrophs decompose organic materials to produce ammonia

Question 28

nitrification

Answer 28

conversion of ammonium ions into nitrates and nitrites by nitrifying bacteria in the soil

Question 29

denitrification

Answer 29

nitrates into nitrogen gas , done by soil bacteria, n2 returns to atmosphere