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ch2
lesson 1 and 2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
producer | an organism that can make its own food. |
consumer | an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms |
herbivore | a consumer that obtains energy by eating only plants |
carnivore | a consumer that obtains energy by eating only animals |
omnivore | a consumer that obtains energy by eating both plants and animals |
scavenger | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead or decaying organisms |
decomposer | an organism that gets energy by breaking down biotic wastes and dead organisms and returns raw materials to the soil and water |
food chain | a series of events in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and by being eaten |
food web | the pattern of overlapping feeding relationships or food chains among the various organisms in an ecosystem |
energy pyramid | a diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
evaporation | the process by which molecules at the surface of a liquid absorb enough energy to change to a gas |
condensation | the change in state from a gas to a liquid |
precipitation | any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface as rain,snow, sleet, or hail |
nitrogen fixation | the process in changing free nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can use |