Unit 5 Flashcards
What is a food chain?
A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
What are the levels of organization?
Atom, molecule, cell, tissue, organ, organ system, organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere
What are food webs?
The feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem form a network of complex interactions
What is a trophic level?
A step in a food chain or food web
What is an ecological pyramid?
A diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level
What does an energy pyramid show?
The relative amount of energy available at each trophic level
How much energy gets transferred to each trophic level?
Only 10%
What does a biomass pyramid represent?
The amount of living organic matter at each trophic level
What is biomass?
The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level
What does a pyramid of numbers show?
Shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level
What are the four main types of processes that move carbon through its cycle?
Biological, geochemical, mixed biogeochemical, and human activities
What does the biological process do?
Photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition take up and release carbon and oxygen
What does the geochemical process do?
Erosion and volcanic activity release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and oceans
What does mixed biogeochemical reactions do?
Burial and decomposition of dead organisms and their conversion under pressure into coal and petroleum store carbon underground
What do human activities do?
Mining, cutting and burning forests, and burning fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
What is nitrogen fixation?
The process in which bacteria convert nitrogen gas into ammonia
What is denitrification?
The process in which bacteria that convert nitrates into nitrogen gas
What is climate?
Average, year after year conditions of temperature and precipitation a in a particular region
What is a biotic factor?
Biological influence on organisms within an ecosystem
What is an abiotic factor?
A physical, or nonliving, factor that shapes an ecosystem
What is a niche?
Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organisms uses those conditions
What is a habitat?
The area where an organism lives, including the biotic and abiotic factors that affect it
What are invasive species?
Plants and animals that have migrated to places where they are not native
What is symbiosis?
Any relationship in which two species life closely together
