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18.3 terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| biomass | any organic material that has been produced in an ecosystem |
| carnivore | an organism that eats animals |
| consumer | an organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing it's own nutrients or obtaining nutrients from inorganic matter |
| chemosynthesis | the production of carbohydrates through the use of energy from inorganic molecules instead of light |
| decomposer | an organism that feeds by breaking down organic matter from dead organisms; ex. bacteria and fungi |
| detritivore | a consumer that feeds on dead organisms or on the parts or wastes of other organisms |
| food chain | the pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of organisms |
| food web | a diagram that shows the feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem |
| gross primary productivity | the rate at which organic matter is assimilated by plants and other producers during a period of time over a certain area |
| herbivore | an organism that eats only plants |
| net primary productivity | the rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem |
| omnivore | an organism that eats a variety of other organisms, including animals and plants |
| producer | 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 |
| trophic level | an organisms relative position in a sequence of energy transfers in a food chain or food pyramid |