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| 5867006803 | Abiotic | Nonliving. | 0 | |
| 5867006804 | Aerobic respiration | Complex process that occurs in the cells of most living organisms, in which nutrient organic molecules such as glucose (C6H12O6) combine with oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy. | 1 | |
| 5867006805 | Amensalism | Any relationship between organisms of different species in which one organism is inhibited or destroyed while the other organism remains unaffected. | 2 | |
| 5867006806 | Ammonification | The formation of ammonium through the bacterial decomposition of organic matter. | 3 | |
| 5867006807 | Autotrophs | Self-feeders. | 4 | |
| 5867006808 | Biogeochemical cycles | Natural processes that recycle nutrients in various chemical forms from the nonliving environment to living organisms and then back to the nonliving environment. | 5 | |
| 5867006809 | Biomass | Organic matter produced by plants and other photosynthetic producers; total dry weight of all living organisms that can be supported at each trophic level in a food chain or web; dry weight of all organic matter in plants and animals in an ecosystem. | 6 | |
| 5867006810 | Biomes | Terrestrial regions inhabited by certain types of life, especially vegetation. | 7 | |
| 5867006811 | Biotic | Living organisms. | 8 | |
| 5867006812 | Chemosynthesis | Process in which certain organisms (mostly specialized bacteria) extract inorganic compounds from their environment and convert them into organic nutrient compounds without the presence of sunlight. | 9 | |
| 5867006813 | Climax community | Fairly stable, self-sustaining community in an advanced stage of ecological succession; usually has a diverse array of species and ecological niches. | 10 | |
| 5867006814 | Coevolution | Evolution in which two or more species interact and exert selective pressures on each other that can lead each species to undergo adaptations. | 11 | |
| 5867006815 | Commensalism | An interaction between organisms of different species in which one type of organism benefits and the other type is neither helped nor harmed to any great degree. | 12 | |
| 5867006816 | Community | Populations of all species living and interacting in an area at a particular time. | 13 | |
| 5867006817 | Consumers | Organism that cannot synthesize the organic nutrients it needs and gets its organic nutrients by feeding on the tissues of producers or of other consumers. | 14 | |
| 5867006818 | Decomposers | Organisms that digest parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms by breaking down the complex organic molecules in those materials into simpler inorganic compounds and then absorbing the soluble nutrients. | 15 | |
| 5867006819 | Denitrification | The reduction of nitrates back into the largely inert nitrogen gas. | 16 | |
| 5867006820 | Detritivores | Consumer organism that feeds on detritus, parts of dead organisms, and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms. | 17 | |
| 5867006821 | Ecological efficiency | Percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to another in a food chain or web. | 18 | |
| 5867006822 | Ecological succession | Process in which communities of plant and animal species in a particular area are replaced over time by a series of different and often more complex communities. | 19 | |
| 5867006823 | Ecosystem | One or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment. | 20 | |
| 5867006824 | Fermentation | Form of cellular respiration in which some decomposers get the energy they need through the breakdown of glucose (or other nutrients) in the absence of oxygen. | 21 | |
| 5867006825 | Food chain | Series of organisms in which each eats or decomposes the preceding one. | 22 | |
| 5867006826 | Food web | Complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships. | 23 | |
| 5867006827 | Foundation species | Species that plays a major role in shaping a community by creating and enhancing a habitat that benefits other species. | 24 | |
| 5867006828 | Gross primary productivity (GPP) | Rate at which an ecosystem's producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time. | 25 | |
| 5867006829 | Habitat | Place or type of place where an organism or population of organisms lives. | 26 | |
| 5867006830 | Herbivores | Plant eaters. | 27 | |
| 5867006831 | Heterotrophs | Other-feeders. | 28 | |
| 5867006832 | Indicator species | Species that serve as early warnings that a community or ecosystem is being degraded. | 29 | |
| 5867006833 | Inertia (persistence) | Ability of a living system, such as a grassland or a forest, to survive moderate disturbances. | 30 | |
| 5867006834 | Interspecific competition | Attempts by members of two or more species to use the same limited resources in an ecosystem. | 31 | |
| 5867006835 | Keystone species | Species that play roles affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem. | 32 | |
| 5867006836 | Law of tolerance | Existence, abundance, and distribution of a species in an ecosystem are determined by whether the levels of one or more physical or chemical factors fall within the range tolerated by the species. | 33 | |
| 5867006837 | Limiting factor principle | Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance. | 34 | |
| 5867006838 | Limiting factors | Single factor that limits the growth, abundance, or distribution of the population of a species in an ecosystem. | 35 | |
| 5867006839 | Mutualism | Type of species interaction in which both participating species generally benefit. | 36 | |
| 5867006840 | Net primary productivity (NPP) | Rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy. | 37 | |
| 5867006841 | Nitrification | The oxidation (as by bacteria) of ammonium salts to nitrites and the further oxidation of nitrites to nitrates. | 38 | |
| 5867006842 | Nitrogen fixation | Conversion of atmospheric nitrogen gas into forms useful to plants by lightning, bacteria, and cyanobacteria. | 39 | |
| 5867006843 | Obligate symbionts | Type of species interaction in which neither organism can exist by themselves, only with the other. | 40 | |
| 5867006844 | Omnivores | Animal that can use both plants and other animals as food sources. | 41 | |
| 5867006845 | Optimum level | The most favorable condition for the growth and reproduction of an organism. | 42 | |
| 5867006846 | Parasitism | Interaction between species in which one organism preys on another organism by living on or in the organism. | 43 | |
| 5867006847 | Photosynthesis | Complex process that takes place in cells of green plants. Radiant energy from the sun is used to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) to produce oxygen (O2), carbohydrates (such as glucose, C6H12O6), and other nutrient molecules. | 44 | |
| 5867006848 | Predation | Interaction in which an organism of one species captures and feeds on parts or all of an organism of another species. | 45 | |
| 5867006849 | Primary succession | Ecological succession in a bare area that has never been occupied by a community of organisms. | 46 | |
| 5867006850 | Producers | Organism that uses solar energy (green plants) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture the organic compounds it needs as nutrients from simple inorganic compounds obtained from its environment. | 47 | |
| 5867006851 | Pyramid of energy flow | Diagram representing the flow of energy through each trophic level in a food chain or food web. | 48 | |
| 5867006852 | Range of tolerance | Range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive and grow, develop, and function normally. | 49 | |
| 5867006853 | Resilience | Ability of a living system to be restored through secondary succession after a moderate disturbance. | 50 | |
| 5867006854 | Resource partitioning | Process of dividing up resources in an ecosystem so that species with similar needs (overlapping ecological niches) use the same scarce resources at different times, in different ways, or in different places. | 51 | |
| 5867006855 | Secondary succession | Ecological succession in an area in which natural vegetation has been removed or destroyed but the soil or bottom sediment has not been destroyed. | 52 | |
| 5867006856 | Tipping point | Threshold level at which an environmental problem causes a fundamental and irreversible shift in the behavior of a system. | 53 | |
| 5867006857 | Trophic level | All organisms that are the same number of energy transfers away from the original source of energy (for example, sunlight) that enters an ecosystem. | 54 | |
| 5888855695 | Competitive exclusion principle | States that when two species occupy the same niche, one will always gain an advantage, forcing the other out. | 55 | |
| 5888855696 | First Law of Thermodynamics | States that energy cannot be create or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. | 56 | |
| 5888855697 | Second Law of Thermodynamics | States that in any transfer of any, some is always lost. No exchange is 100% efficient. | 57 | |
| 5888855698 | Environmental resistance | All of the limiting factors that act together to limit the growth of a population. | 58 | |
| 5888855699 | Niche | Total way of life or role of a species in an ecosystem. | 59 |
