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Ecology Ch2 Vocab
Ecology Vocabulary 2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Biodiversity | the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. |
Keystone Species | A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem |
Producer | An organism that can make its own food. Also known as an autotroph. |
Consumer | An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms. Also known as a heterotroph. |
Food Chain | series of steps in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten |
Decomposer | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
Trophic Level | Each step in a food chain or food web |
Food Web | a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains. |
Biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level |
Energy Pyramid | A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
Hydrologic Cycle | the movement of water through the biosphere |
Biogeochemical Cycle | 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 |
Nitrogen Fixation | process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use |
Chemosynthesis | process by which an organism forms carbs using different chemicals, rather than sunlight, for energy. |
Herbivore | organisms that only eat plants |
Carnivore | organisms that only eat meat |
Omnivores | organisms that eat both plants and meat. |
Detritivore | organisms that eat detritus, or dead organic matter, also known as a decomposer. |
Generalist | organisms that eat a variety of different things. |
Specialist | consumers that have a very specific diet or feeds on a very small small variety of organisms. |