Vocab Test Flashcards
Autotroph
organism that captures energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to produce its own food;
heterotroph
organism that cannot make its own food and gets its nutrients and energy requirements by feeding on other organisms; also called a
consumer.
herbivore.
heterotroph that eats
only plants.
Carnivore
heterotroph that preys on
other heterotrophs.
Omnivore
heterotoph that consumes both plants and animals.
detritivore
heterotroph that decomposes organic material and returns the nutrients to soil, air, and water, making the nutrients available to other organisms.
trophic level
each step in a food chain or food web.
•Food Chain
simplified model that shows a single path for energy flow through an ecosystem.
•biogeochemical Cycle
exchange of matter through the biosphere involving living organisms, chemical processes, and geological processes.
Food web
model that shows many interconnected food chains and pathways in which energy and matter flow through an ecosystem.
•biomass
total mass of living matter at each trophic level.
•Matter
anything that takes up space and has mass.
Primary Producers
also known as autotrophs, are organisms that make their own food and form the base of the food chain.
Consumers
organisms that can’t produce their own food and must eat other organisms for energy. They are also known as heterotrophs.
detritus
trash or debris. Usually, detritus refers to waste or junk of some kind, but it can actually mean any accumulation of material, not only man-made stuff.
