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The Biosphere
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Autotroph | organism that can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food from inorganic compounds |
| Producer | make their own food |
| Photosynthesis | uses light energy to power chemical reactions that converts carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen |
| Chemosynthesis | process by which some organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates |
| Heterotroph | rely on other organisms for their energy and food |
| Consumer | organism that relies on other organisms for its energy and food supply |
| Herbivore | obtain energy by eating only plants |
| Carnivore | organism that obtains energy by eating animals |
| Omnivore | eat both plants and animals |
| Detritivore | organisms that feeds on plants and animal remains other dead matter |
| Decomposer | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
| Food Chain | a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
| Food Web | links all food chains together in an ecosystem |
| Trophic Level | each step in a food chain or food web |
| Ecological Pyramid | diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy or matter within each trophic level in a food chain or web |
| Biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level |
| Ecology | species study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment |
| Biosphere | part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere |
| Species | a group of organisms so similar to each other that they can breed and produce fertile offsprings |
| Population | groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area |
| Community | assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area |
| Ecosystem | collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment |
| Biome | group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities |
| biogeochemical | process in which elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another |
| evaporation | water changes from liquid form to water vapor |
| transpiration | water evaporates from the leaves of plants |
| nutrient | all the chemical substances that an organism needs to sustain life |
| nitrogen fixation | converts nitrogen gas into ammonia |
| denitrification | soil bacteria converts nitrates into nitrogen gas |
| primary productivity | the rate at which organic matter is created by producers |
| limiting nutrient | an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient that is scarce or cycles very slowly |
| algal bloom | an increase in the amount of algae and other producers that results from a large input of a limiting nutrients |
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