Term | Definition |
producer | an organism that makes its own food |
consumer | an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms |
herbivore | an animal that eats only plants |
carnivore | an animal that eats only other animals |
omnivore | an animal that eats both plants and animals |
scavenger | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
decomposer | an organism that breaks down large chemicals from dead organisms into small chemicals and returns important material to the soil and water |
food chain | a series of event in which one organism eats another |
energy pyramid | a diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
water cycle | the continuous process by which water moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back |
condensation | the process by which a gas changes to a liquid |
evaporation | the process by which molecules of a liquid absorb energy and change to the gas state |
precipitation | rain, snow, sleet or hail occur when water vapor condenses and eventually fall to Earth |
nitrogen fixation | the process of changing free nitrogen gas into a useable form |
biogeography | the study of where organisms live |
dispersal | the movement of organisms from one place to another |
native species | species that have naturally evolved in an area |
exotic species | species that are carried to a new location by people |
climate | the typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time |
biome | a group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms |
canopy | a leafy roof formed by tall trees |
understory | a layer of shorter plants that grow in the shade of a forest canopy |
desert | an area in which the yearly amount of evaporation is greater than the amount of precipitation |
grassland | an area populated by grasses that gets 25 to 75 cm of rain each year |
savanna | a grassland close to the equator |
deciduous tree | trees that shed their leaves and grow new ones each year |
coniferous tree | trees that produce their seeds in cones and have needle-shaped leaves |
tundra | an extremely cold, dry biome |
permafrost | soil that is frozen all year |
estuary | a habitat in which the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean |
intertidal zone | the area between the highest high-tide line and the lowest low-tide line |
neritic zone | the region of shallow ocean water over the continental shelf |