Terms : Hide Images
| 163767721 | Ecosystem | A level of ecological study that includes all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact; a community and its physical environment | |
| 163767722 | Secondary Consumers | Carnivores that eat herbivores | |
| 163767723 | Food Chain | Pathway along which food is transferred from trophic level to trophic level | |
| 163767724 | Primary Productivity | The rate at which light energy or inorganic chemical energy is converted to the chemical energy of organic compounds by autotrophs in an ecosystem | |
| 163767725 | Limiting Nutrient | single nutrient that either is scarce or cycles very slowly, limiting the growth of organisms in an ecosystem | |
| 163767726 | Pyramid of Productivity | shows that productivity is highest at the bottom, or first, trophic level and decreases dramatically | |
| 163767727 | Production | Rate of incorporation of energy and materials into bodies of organisms | |
| 163767728 | Trophic Structure | The different feeding relationships in an ecosystem that determine the route of energy flow and the pattern of chemical cycling | |
| 163767729 | Tertiary Consumers | A member of a trophic level of an ecosystem consisting of carnivores that eat mainly other carnivores | |
| 163767730 | Food Web | A community of organisms where there are several interrelated food chains | |
| 163767731 | Gross Primary Productivity | The total primary productivity of an ecosystem | |
| 163767732 | Secondary Productivity | Rate at which consumers convert chemical energy in the food they eat into their own biomass | |
| 163767733 | Ecological Efficiency | Ratio of net productivity at one trophic level compared to net productivity at the trophic level below | |
| 163767734 | Trophic Level | The division of species in an ecosystem on the basis of their main nutritional source; an organism's feeding status in an ecosystem. | |
| 163767735 | Detritivores | Decomposers; derive energy from detritus and dead organisms from other trophic levels; major link between primary producers and consumers | |
| 163767736 | Consumption | Metabolic use of assimilated organic molecules for growth & reproduction | |
| 163767737 | Biomass Pyramid | Tiers that symbolize the total dry weight of all organisms in a trophic level; narrow sharply from base to top level carnivores; aquatic may be inverted b/c of short turnover time | |
| 163767738 | Nitrification | Metabolic process by which certain aerobic soil bacteria use ammonium as an energy source by oxidizing it to nitrite then nitrate; returns nitrogen to the atmosphere | |
| 163767739 | Primary Producers | An autotroph, which collectively make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately suuports all other levels; usually a photosynthetic organisms | |
| 163767740 | Detritus | Dead organic matter | |
| 163767741 | Decomposition | Breakdown of organic molecules into inorganic molecules | |
| 163767742 | Net Primary Productivity | The gross primary productivity minus the energy used by the producers for cellular resperation; represents chemical energy in an ecosystem available to consumers | |
| 163767743 | Biological Magnification | Process by which toxiins become more concentrated with each successive trophic level; top-level carnivores most affected | |
| 163767744 | Pyramid of Numbers | Blocks which are proportional in size to the number of individuals present at each trophic level | |
| 163767745 | Primary Consumers | Herbivores that eat primary producers | |
| 163767746 | Denitrification | Only returns a small amount of N2; nitrate reduction into nitrogen | |
| 163767747 | Greenhouse Effect | Warming of Earth due to atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide, which absorbs infaredd radiation | |
| 163767748 | Biomass | The dry weight of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in a particular habitat | |
| 163767749 | Ammonification | Decomposition of organic nitrogen back into ammonium; bacteria & fungi; recycles large amounts of N2 | |
| 163767750 | Nitrogen Fixation | The assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by certain prokaryotes into nitrogenous compounds that can be directly used by plants |
