Term
|
Definition
| the study of the interactions between organisms and the living and nonliving components of their enviroments |
|
|
Term
interdependence
or
interconnectedness |
|
Definition
| the interactions between organisms with other organisms and their surroundings |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a physical, conceptual, or mathematical model used to describe or represent the components of an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the thin volume of Earth and its atmosphere that supports life |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| all of the organisms and the nonliving environment found in a particular place |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| all the interacting organisms living in an area |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| all the members of a species that live in one place at one time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| all of the living things that affect an organism |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the nonliving things that affect an organism; the physical and chemical characteristics of the environment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a graph of performance versus values of an environmental variable |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process of an organism adjusting its tolerance to abiotic factors |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a state of reduced activity during unfavorable conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| moving to a new environment during unfavorable conditions |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| autotrophs, or organisms that capture energy and use it to make organic molecules |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a process which some bacteria that are autotrophs but do not preform photosynthesis go through in order to make food by using energy stored in inorganic molecules to produce carbohydrates |
|
|
Term
| gross primary productivity |
|
Definition
| the rate at which producers in an ecosystem capture energy or the sunlight by producing organic compounds |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| organic material that has been produced in an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the rate at which biomass accumulates |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| organisms that obtain energy by consuming organic molecules made by other organisms |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| consumers that eat only producers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| consumers that eat only other consumers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| consumers that eat both producers and other consumers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| organisms that eat the "garbage" of an ecosystem, such as recently dead organisms, fallen leaves, and animal wastes |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| detritivores that cause decay by breaking down complex molecules into simpler molecules |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an organism's position in a sequence of energy transfers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a single pathway of feeding relationships among organisms in a ecosystem that results in energy transfer |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| interrelated food chains in an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| water in the soil or in underground formations of porous rock |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| movement of water between various reservoirs |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process by which water evaporates from the leaves of plants in terrestrial ecosystems |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the cycle that photosynthesis and cellular respiration form the basis of |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the complex pathway that nitrogen follows in an ecosystem |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process of converting N2 gas to nitrate |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| bacteria that live in the soil and inside the swellings on the roots of some kinds of plants that transform nitrogen gas into a usable form |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process in which decomposers break down urine and dung and release the nitrogen they contain as ammonia, NH3, which in soil becomes ammonium, NH4+ |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process in which soil bacteria take up ammonium and oxidize it into nitrates, NO2- and NO3- |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the process in which nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the movement of phosphorous from the environment to organisms and then back to the enviroment |
|
|
