Question | Answer |
Biosphere | Part of Earth where life exists |
Ecosystem | Made up of a community of organisms |
Community | Consists of all of the populations of species that live and interact in the ecosystem |
Population | Group of species that live together |
Organism | Individual living thing |
Producers | Make their own food using energy from the sun |
Cosumers | Cannot make their own food, and need to eat plants and other animals for energy |
Decomposers | Eat decaying matter (dead plants and animals). Break matter down and release nutrients and minerals back into the soil |
Herbivore | Eats only plants |
Carnivore | Eats only meat |
Omnivore | Eats both plants and meat |
Scavenger | Eats dead plants and animals |
Food chain | Shows how each living thing gets food |
Food chains always begin with a... | producer |
Food web | Collection of food chains interconnected |
Energy pyramid | Shows the amount of energy available at each trophic level of an ecosystem |
Limiting Factor | Resource that is so scarce that it limits the size of a population |
Carrying capacity | Largest population that an environment can support |
Competition | When two or more organisms try to use the same resources |
Prey | Organism that is killed and eaten by another |
Predator | Organism that eats all or part of another |
Symbiosis | Relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other |
Mutualism | Benefit from |
Commensalism | Unaffected by |
Parasitism | Harmed by |
Water Cycle | Process by which water moves through the Earth and atmosphere |
Evaporation | Process that occurs when water changes from a liquid to a gas |
Condensation | Cooling of water in the atmosphere, changing a gas to a liquid |
Precipitataion | Water droplets fall from the atmosphere in the form of rain, sleet, snow, or hail |
Transpiration | Passage of water vapor form a plant to the atmosphere |
Runoff | Rainfall that is not absorbed by soil and travels to the ocean |
Carbon Cycle | Exchange of carbon between the environment and living things |
Decomposition | Breakdown of substances into simpler molecules |
Combustion | Burning of a substance |
Nitrogen Cycle | Movement of nitrogen between the environment and living things |
Nitrogen Fixation | Bacteria in the soil and lightning are able to change nitrogen gas into forms that plants can use |