Week 9 Vocab Flashcards
The process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce carbohydrates and oxygen.
Photosynthesis
An organism that can make organic molecules from inorganic molecules; a photosynthetic or chemosynthetic autotroph that serves as the basic food source in an ecosystem.
Producer
An organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing its own nutrients or obtaining nutrients from inorganic sources.
Consumer
An organism that feeds by breaking down organic matter from dead organisms; examples include bacteria and fungi.
Decomposer
The process by which cells produce energy from carbohydrates; atmospheric oxygen combines with glucose to form water and carbon dioxide.
Cellular Respiration
The pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of organisms.
Food Chain
A diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.
Food Web
One of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers.
Trophic Level
The movement of carbon from the nonliving environment into living things and back.
Carbon Cycle
Bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia.
Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria
The process in which nitrogen circulates among the air, soil, water, plants, and animals in an ecosystem.
Nitrogen Cycle
The cyclic movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment.
Phosphorus Cycle
An animal that has a backbone; includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
Vertebrate
An animal that does not have a backbone.
Invertebrate
Any form of water that falls to the Earth’s surface from the clouds; includes rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
Precipitation
