Mission Springs Outdoor Education

Question 1

Abiotic:

Answer 1

Nonliving things such as minerals, weather, water, and soil.

Question 2

Biotic:

Answer 2

Living things such as animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and algae.

Question 3

Biodegradable:

Answer 3

Anything that is able to be broken down and absorbed into the ecosystem. Wood, for example, is biodegradable, while plastics are not.

Question 4

Biodiversity:

Answer 4

A large number and big variety of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. Biodiversity
is good for all species living in an ecosystem.

Question 5

Community:

Answer 5

A group of living things within a particular type of area (forest, stream, chaparral, etc.).

Question 6

Condensation:

Answer 6

Formation of drops of water from water vapor

Question 7

Decomposition:

Answer 7

The breaking down of dead organic matter by (mostly) bacteria and fungi that recycles
life energy back through an environment.

Question 8

Ecology:

Answer 8

The study of the relationships between organisms and their environment.

Question 9

Ecosystem:

Answer 9

Group of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms that interact with their non-living environment.

Question 10

Energy:

Answer 10

The capacity to do work. (i.e. To change the physical state or motion of an object)

Question 11

Erosion

Answer 11

The wearing away of land by wind, water, organisms, and other forces.

Question 12

Evaporation

Answer 12

The process of changing liquid water into water vapor.

Question 13

Food Chains:

Answer 13

A food chain is a simple diagram that shows how energy flows through an ecosystem. A food web combines these chains together.

Question 14

Habitat

Answer 14

The place where an organism naturally lives and grows.

Question 15

Igneous Rock

Answer 15

Rocks created from the cooling of magma or lava. If molten rock cools slowly beneath the surface of the earth, it forms coarse grained rocks like granite. Rapid cooling magma above the surface produces fine-grained rocks like basalt, or glassy rocks like obsidian.

Question 16

Infiltration

Answer 16

The process of water seeping into the soil, pores and hollows of rocks.

Question 17

Invertebrate

Answer 17

An animal that does not have a backbone.

Question 18

Landfill

Answer 18

A place where waste is dumped, compacted, and covered with dirt. The energy and natural resources needed to produce the items in the landfill cannot be recovered. Compaction of the products makes it very difficult for decomposition because there is little oxygen.

Question 19

Metamorphic Rock

Answer 19

Rocks created when pre-existing rocks are exposed to intense heat and/or pressure.

Question 20

Metamorphosis

Answer 20

Rapid change from larva to adult. There are two types of metamorphosis; complete with
four stages and incomplete that is only three stages.

Question 21

Nonrenewable Resource

Answer 21

A resource that exists in a fixed amount in various places in the Earth’s crust.
We classify these resources as nonrenewable because we are using them much faster than the earth can
replenish them.

Question 22

Organic farming

Answer 22

Farming that is free of chemical use including pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
As alternatives, crop rotation and natural pest control are some methods that are used.

Question 23

Phloem

Answer 23

The part of a plant that transports food down from the leaves to the rest of the plant.

Question 24

Photosynthesis

Answer 24

The process whereby plants capture light energy from the Sun and use it to produce
glucose by combining carbon dioxide and water and giving off oxygen.

Question 25

Precipitation

Answer 25

Rain, snow, sleet or any other form of water that falls from the clouds in the sky.

Question 26

Reduce

Answer 26

Using less of a particular item or simply not buying an item anymore because it can not be
recycled or reused.

Question 27

Renewable Resource

Answer 27

Energy sources that can be used without depletion if carefully managed.

Question 28

Resource

Answer 28

Environmental building block used by a living organism.

Question 29

Respiration

Answer 29

The process of “burning” food, in which bound energy is released for use by an organism.

Question 30

Run-Off

Answer 30

That part of precipitation, snow melt, or irrigation water that runs off the land into streams or
other surface water.

Question 31

Sedimentary Rock

Answer 31

Rocks created by the compaction or and cementation of sediment.

Question 32

Transpiration

Answer 32

The evaporation of water from plant surfaces, especially through the microscopic holes
on the underside of the leaf (stomata)

Question 33

Xylem

Answer 33

The part of the plant that moves water up from the roots to the leaves