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Chapter 2
Ecosystems and Biomes
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Producer | an organism that can make it's own food |
Consumer | an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms |
Herbivores | consumers that eat only plants |
Carnivores | consumers that eat only animals |
Omnivores | consumers that eat both plants and animals |
Scavenger | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
Decomposers | break down wastes and dead organisms and return the raw materials to the ecosystem |
Food Chain | a series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy |
Food Web | consists of the many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem |
Energy Pyramid | shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
Water Cycle | the continuous process by which water moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back |
Evaporation | the process by which molecules of liquid water absorb energy and change to a gas |
Condensation | the process by which a gas changes to a liquid |
Precipitation | rain,snow,sleet, or hail |
Nitrogen Fixation | the process of changing free nitrogen into a usable form of nitrogen |
Biogeography | the study of where organisms live |
Continental Drift | as the plates move, the continents move with them in a process called.. |
Dispersal | the movement of organisms from one place to another |
Exotic Species | an organism that is carried into a new location by people |
Climate | the typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time |
Biome | a group of land ecosystems with similar climates and organisms |
Canopy | the tall trees form a leafy roof called the.. |
Understory | below the canopy, a second layer of shorter trees and vines form an.. |
Desert | an area that receives less than 25 centimeters of rain per year |
Grassland | an area that is populated mostly by grasses and other nonwoody plants |
Savanna | a savanna receives as much as 120 centimeters of rain each year |
Deciduous Trees | trees that shed their leaves and grow new ones each year |
Coniferous Trees | trees that produce their seeds in cones and have leaves shaped like needles |
Tundra | an extremely cold and dry biome |
Permafrost | frozen soil |
Estuary | an estuary, is found where the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean |
Intertidal Zone | between the highest high-tide and the lowest low-tide line |
Neritic Zone | below the low-tide line is a region of shallow water called the neritic zone, which extends over the continental shelf |