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| 5053170341 | Ecology | Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment | 0 | |
| 5063509490 | Species | A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring. | 1 | |
| 5063510707 | Population | A group of organisms of the same species populating a given area | 2 | |
| 5063510708 | Biota | All of the organisms that live in a region | 3 | |
| 5063511933 | Biotic community | Assemblage of organisms that live together in a defined area | 4 | |
| 5063511934 | Abiotic | Any nonliving component of an environment | 5 | |
| 5063512861 | Ecosystem | A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. | 6 | |
| 5063514101 | Ecotone | The transition from one type of habitat or ecosystem to another, such as the transition from a forest to a grassland. | 7 | |
| 5063528581 | Landscape | A region that includes several interacting ecosystems | 8 | |
| 5063528582 | Biomes | Very large regions of the earth, names for the climatic conditions and for the predominant vegetation; examples are marine, tropical rain forest, and desert | 9 | |
| 5063530466 | Biosphere | Consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere. | 10 | |
| 5063530467 | Conditions | Abiotic factors that vary in time and space but are not used up by organisms | 11 | |
| 5063531715 | Resources | Biotic and abiotic factors that are consumed by organisms | 12 | |
| 5063533511 | Optimum | The condition or amount of any factor or combination of factors that will produce the best result. For example, the amount of heat, light, moisture, nutrients, and so on that will produce the best plant growth. | 13 | |
| 5063533512 | Range of tolerance | The range of conditions within which an organism or population can survive and reproduce-for example, the range from the highest to the lowest temperature that can be tolerated. Within the range of tolerance is the optimum, or best, condition. | 14 | |
| 5063535753 | Limits of tolerance | The extremes of any factor (e.g. temperature) that an organism or population can tolerate and still survive and reproduce. | 15 | |
| 5063535754 | Zones of stress | Point between optimal range and limits of tolerance where the conditions are suboptimal. The species survives but does not thrive. | 16 | |
| 5063537295 | Limiting factor | A factor primarily responsible for determining the growth or reproduction of an organism or a population. The limiting factor in a given environment may be a physical factor such as temperature or light, a chemical factor such as a particular nutrient, or a biological factor such as a competing species. | 17 | |
| 5063537296 | Law of limiting factors | The law stating that a system may be limited by the absence or minimum amount (in terms of that needed) of any required factor. | 18 | |
| 5063539546 | Synergisms | The phenomenon whereby two factors acting together have a greater effect than would be indicated by the sum of their effects separately-as, for example, the sometimes fatal mixture of modest doses of certain drugs in combination with modest doses of alcohol | 19 | |
| 5063541269 | Habitat | The specific physical area in which an organism lives. | 20 | |
| 5063543389 | Niche | Full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions | 21 | |
| 5066662126 | Matter | Any gas, liquid or solid that occupies space and has mass. | 22 | |
| 5066662127 | Atoms | The smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element | 23 | |
| 5066662128 | Elements | Pure substance, cannot be broken down into anything simpler | 24 | |
| 5066664602 | Molecule | The smallest unit of two or more atoms forming a compound. A molecule has all the characteristics of the compound of which it is a unit. | 25 | |
| 5066664603 | Compound | A substance made up of atoms of two or more different elements joined by chemical bonds | 26 | |
| 5066665790 | Atmosphere | The thin layer of gases surrounding the Earth. Nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide are major gases, while many minor gasses are also present in trace amounts. | 27 | |
| 5066665791 | Hydrosphere | The water on Earth, in all of it liquid and solid compartments: oceans, rivers, lakes, ice and groundwater. | 28 | |
| 5066665792 | Lithosphere | The Earth's crust made up of rocks and minerals. | 29 | |
| 5066667582 | Mineral | Any hard, brittle, stonelike material that naturally occurs in Earth's crust. All minerals consist of various combinations of positive and negative ions held together by ionic bonds. A pure mineral, or crystal, is one specific combination of elements. Common rocks are composed of mixtures of two or more minerals. | 30 | |
| 5066670502 | Organic | All living things and products that are uniquely produced by living things. All chemical compounds or molecules, that contain carbon. | 31 | |
| 5066670503 | Inorganic | Not formed from living things or the remains of living things | 32 | |
| 5066683383 | Natural organic compounds | Carbon containg compounds that make up living things | 33 | |
| 5066685618 | Synthetic organic compounds | Substances manufactured from organic chemicals (carbon-based) such as pesticides, cleaning compounds, and plastics. Known by the difficulty with which they degrade in the environment. | 34 | |
| 5066685619 | Energy | The capacity to do work. Common forms of energy are light, heat, electricity, motion, and the chemical bond energy inherent in compounds such as sugar, gasoline, and other fuels. | 35 | |
| 5066685630 | Kinetic energy | The energy inherent in motion or movement, including molecular movement (heat) and the movement of waves (hence radiation and therefore light). | 36 | |
| 5066687725 | Potential energy | The ability to do work that is stored in some chemical or physical state. for example, gasoline is a form of potential energy because the ability to do work is stored in the chemical state and released as the fuel is burned in an engine. | 37 | |
| 5066687726 | Chemical energy | The potential energy that is contained in certain chemicals; most importantly, the energy that is contained in organic compounds such as food and fuels and that they may be released through respiration or burning. | 38 | |
| 5066689089 | calorie | A fundamental unit of energy. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. All forms of energy can be converted to heat and measured in calories. Calories used in connection with food are kilocalories, or "big" calories, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 liter of water 1 degree Celsius. | 39 | |
| 5066693737 | The Law of Conservation of Energy | Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed. Also called the first law of thermodynamics | 40 | |
| 5066753750 | First law of thermodynamics | Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transferred and transformed. Also called the law of conservation of energy | 41 | |
| 5067563661 | Second Law of thermodynamics | When energy is changed from one form to another, some useful energy is degraded into lower quality energy (usually heat) which escapes from the system. | 42 | |
| 5066759406 | Entropy | A degree of disorder; increasing entropy means increasing disorder. | 43 | |
| 5066759407 | Oxidation | A chemical reaction that generally involves a breaking down of some substance through its combining with oxygen. Burning and cellular respiration are examples of oxidation. In both cases organic matter is combined with oxygen and broken down into carbon dioxide and water. | 44 | |
| 5066761351 | Producers | In an ecosystem, those organisms (mostly green plants) that use light energy to construct their organic constituents from organic compounds | 45 | |
| 5066761352 | Consumers | In an ecosystem, those organisms that derive their energy from feeding on other organisms or their products. | 46 | |
| 5066762909 | Photosynthesis | The chemical process used by plants and other autotrophs to capture light energy and use it to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is released as a by-product. | 47 | |
| 5066768233 | Enzymes | Proteins that promote the synthesis or breaking of chemical bonds | 48 | |
| 5066768234 | Cell respiration | The chemical process that occurs in all living cells whereby organic compounds are broken down to release energy required for life processes. For respiration, higher plants and animals require oxygen and release carbon dioxide and water as waste products, but certain microorganisms don't require oxygen. | 49 | |
| 5066770092 | 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; examples: carbon and nitrogen cycle | 50 | |
| 5066770093 | Hydrologic cycle | The cycle through which water in the hydrosphere moves; includes such processes as evaporation, precipitation, and surface and groundwater runoff | 51 | |
| 5066771664 | Detritus | Nonliving organic maters such as remains of dead organisms, feces, fallen leaves, dead wood. | 52 | |
| 5066774585 | Organic phosphate | Phosphate bonded to an organic molecule |  | 53 |
| 5067066227 | Nonreactive nitrogen | The main reservoir of nitrogen as nitrogen gas in the atmosphere (N2) | 54 | |
| 5066777719 | Reactive nitrogen | All forms of nitrogen in ecosystems that are usable by organisms, as opposed to the nonreactive nitrogen in the form of nitrogen gas (N2) | 55 | |
| 5066779742 | Nitrogen Fixation | The chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into compounds such as nitrates (NO3) or ammonia (NH3) that can be used by plants to build amino acids and other nitrogen-containing organic molecules. | 56 | |
| 5066779743 | Denitrification | Process by which bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas | 57 | |
| 5066786935 | Nitrogen Cascade | The effects on the atmosphere, terrestrial & aquatic ecosystems, and human health due to breaking the triple bond in molecular nitrogen (N2) and creating reactive nitrogen (Nr) | 58 |
