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DSST Env.Sci. Chp. 3
vocab. for DSST Env.Sci. from Environmental Science by Karen Arms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| autotroph | self-feeding organism that obtains its nutrients by synthesis from the environment, such as green plants |
| carbon cycle | process in an ecosystem in which producers take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and consumers, having eaten producers, release carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide |
| carnivore | consumer that eats only other consumers |
| cellular respiration | process of breaking down food to yield energy |
| climax community | final, stable community that forms when land is left undisturbed |
| consumer | organisln that gets its energy by eating other organisms; heterotroph |
| DDT | powerful insecticide; its use is limited by law because of its potential to damage the environment |
| Decomposer | consumer that gets its food by breaking down dead organisms, causing them to rot |
| energy pyramid | diagram in the form of a pyramid that shows how energy is lost from one trophic level to the next |
| fire-maintained communities | communities where natural fires caused by lightning make secondary succession possible |
| food chain | the sequence in which energy is transferred from one organism to the next as each organism eats and is then eaten by another |
| food web | diagram showing the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem |
| herbivore | consumer that eats only producers |
| heterotroph | consumer organism that gets its energy from eating other organisms |
| krill | small, shrimplike crustaceans; the main food of whales |
| lichen | composed of a particular fungus and a particular alga growing in a symbiotic relationship and forming a dual organism |
| nitrogen cycle | process by which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into compounds for use by plants and animals, eventually returned by decay |
| nitrogen-fixing bacteria | bacteria that convert nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a form that plants can use |
| omnivore | consumer that eats both plants and animals |
| perennial grass | tall grass plants that live several years (as opposed to annual grasses) and that have a tendency to shade the ground, limiting growth of smaller plants |
| photosynthesis | biological synthesis of chemical compounds in the presence of light; produces organic substances such as sugar |
| pioneers | first organisms to colonize any newly available area and start the process of succession |
| precipitation | rain, sleet, snow, or hail that has condensed from water vapor in the atmosphere and returns to the Earth's surface |
| primary succession | succession that occurs in areas where no ecosystem has existed previously |
| producer | organism that makes its own food; autotroph |
| secondary succession | pattern of change in an area where an ecosystem has previously existed |
| succession | the regular pattern of changes over time in the types of species in a community |
| trophic level | a step in the transfer of energy through an ecosystem; the level of a food chain that an organism occupies |
| water cycle | the continual process by which water circulates between the atmosphere and the Earth |
| energy | the quantity that describes the capacity to do work |
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