Terms : Hide Images
| 4836146130 | Biosphere | The region of our planet where life resides. |  | 0 |
| 4836146414 | Producer | An organism that uses the energy of the sun to produce usable forms of energy. Also known as autotroph. |  | 1 |
| 4836146952 | Photosynthesis | The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose. |  | 2 |
| 4836148007 | Cellular respiration | The process by which cells unlock the energy of chemical compounds. |  | 3 |
| 4836149959 | Aerobic respiration | The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy-ATP, carbon dioxide, and water. |  | 4 |
| 4836151944 | Anaerobic respiration | The process by which cells convert glucose in to energy in the absence of oxygen. |  | 5 |
| 4836152631 | Consumer | An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis. Aka heterotroph. |  | 6 |
| 4836153292 | Herbivore | A consumer that eats producers. |  | 7 |
| 4836155529 | Carnivore | A consumer that eats other consumers. |  | 8 |
| 4836156028 | Secondary consumer | A carnivore that eats primary consumers. | | 9 |
| 4836156407 | Tertiary consumer | A carnivore that eats secondary consumers. | | 10 |
| 4836156981 | Trophic levels | The successive level of organisms consuming one another. |  | 11 |
| 4836157300 | Food chain | The sequence of consumption from producers through tertiary consumers. |  | 12 |
| 4836157868 | Food web | A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels. |  | 13 |
| 4836158530 | Scavenger. | An organism that consumes dead animals. |  | 14 |
| 4836158904 | Detrivore | An organism that specializes in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles. |  | 15 |
| 4836159313 | Decomposers | Fungi and bacteria that convert organic matter into small elements and molecules that can be recycled back into the ecosystem. |  | 16 |
| 4836160857 | Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) | The total amount of solar energy that producers in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time. |  | 17 |
| 4836162688 | Net Primary Productivity (NPP) | The energy captured by producers in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire. |  | 18 |
| 4836164242 | Biomass | The total mass of all living matter in a specific area. |  | 19 |
| 4836166625 | Standing crop | The amount of biomass present in an ecosystem at a particular time. |  | 20 |
| 4836167327 | Ecological efficiency | The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another. |  | 21 |
| 4836167956 | Trophic pyramid | The representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels. |  | 22 |
| 4836169046 | Biogeochemical cycle | The movements of matter within and between ecosystems. |  | 23 |
| 4836169269 | Hydrologic cycle | The movement of water through the biosphere. |  | 24 |
| 4836171861 | Transpiration | The release of water from leaves during photosynthesis. |  | 25 |
| 4836172348 | Evapotranspiration | The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration. |  | 26 |
| 4836172711 | Runoff | Water that moves across the land surface and into streams and rivers. |  | 27 |
| 4836173340 | Carbon cycle | The movement of carbon around the biosphere. |  | 28 |
| 4836173763 | Macronutrient | One of six key elements that organisms need in relatively large amounts: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. |  | 29 |
| 4836175571 | Limiting nutrient | A nutrient required for the growth of an organism but available in a lower quantity than other nutrients. |  | 30 |
| 4836176559 | Nitrogen cycle | The movement of nitrogen around the biosphere. |  | 31 |
| 4836176913 | Nitrogen fixation | A process by which some organisms can convert nitrogen gas molecules directly into ammonia. |  | 32 |
| 4836177639 | Nitrification | The conversion of ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate. |  | 33 |
| 4836178678 | Assimilation | The process by which producers incorporate elements into their tissues. |  | 34 |
| 4836179421 | Mineralization | The process by which fungal and bacterial decomposers break down the organic matter found in dead bodies and waste products and convert it into inorganic compounds. |  | 35 |
| 4836180816 | Ammonification | The process by which fungal and bacterial decomposers break down the organic nitrogen found in dead bodies and waste products and convert it into inorganic ammonium. |  | 36 |
| 4836183012 | Denitrification | The conversion of nitrate in a series of steps into the gases nitrous oxide and, eventually, nitrogen gas, which is emitted into the atmosphere. |  | 37 |
| 4836183801 | Leaching | The transportation of dissolved molecules through the soil via groundwater. |  | 38 |
| 4836184466 | Phosphorus cycle | The movement of phosphorous around the biosphere. |  | 39 |
| 4836185117 | Algal bloom | A rapid increase in the algal population of a waterway. |  | 40 |
| 4836185608 | Hypoxic | Low in oxygen. |  | 41 |
| 4836185765 | Sulfur cycle | The movement of sulfur around the biosphere. |  | 42 |
| 4836187094 | Disturbance | An event, caused by physical, chemical, or biological agents, resulting in changes in population size or community composition. |  | 43 |
| 4836188055 | Watershed | All land in a given landscape that drains into a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland. |  | 44 |
| 4836189946 | Resistance | A measure of how much a disturbance can affect flows of energy and matter in an ecosystem. |  | 45 |
| 4836190973 | Resilience | The rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance. |  | 46 |
| 4836191855 | Restoration ecology | The study and implementation of restoring damaged ecosystems. |  | 47 |
| 4836193525 | Intermediate disturbance hypothesis | Ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with high or low disturbance levels. |  | 48 |
