APES Miller 16th Ed. Ch. 3 Vocabulary Flashcards

31242868	abiotic	nonliving, physical features of the environment, including air, water, sunlight, soil, temperature, and climate	0
31242869	aerobic respiration	energy releasing biochemical reactions that use oxygen.	1
31242870	anaerobic respiration	Respiration in the absence of oxygen. This produces lactic acid.	2
31242871	aquatic life zones	Marine and freshwater portions of the biosphere.	3
31243992	atmosphere	the envelope of gases surrounding any celestial body	4
31243993	autotrophs	organisms that use energy from sunlight or from chemical bonds in inorganic substances to make organic compounds	5
31243994	biological community	All of the populations of organisms living and interacting in a particular area	6
31243995	biomass	organic matter that contains stored energy	7
31243996	biomes	a community of living organisms of a single major ecological region	8
31243997	biosphere	part of Earth in which life exists including land, water, and air or atmosphere	9
31243998	biotic	Pertaining to life; environmental factors created by living organisms	10
31243999	carbon cycle	the circulation and reutilization of carbon atoms especially via the process of photosynthesis and respiration.	11
31244000	carnivores	Organisms that eat other animals for energy	12
31244001	chemosynthesis	process by which some organisms, such as certain bacteria, use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates	13
31244002	community	a group of interacting populations of different species	14
31244003	consumers	organisms that use the food producers make or eat other consumers	15
31244004	decomposers	organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment	16
31244005	detritivores	A heterotroph that derives its energy from nonliving organic material	17
31244006	distribution	The arrangement of something across Earth's surface	18
31244007	ecological efficiency	Percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to another in a food chain or web	19
31244008	ecology	scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment	20
31244009	ecosystem	a community of organisms and their nonliving environment	21
31244010	fermentation	The process by which cells break down molecules to release energy without using oxygen.	22
31244011	food chain	a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten	23
31244012	food web	consists of the many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem	24
31244013	genetic diversity	refers to the sum total of all the different forms of genetic information carried by all organisms living on Earth today	25
31244014	gross primary productivity	the rate at which energy is produced in an ecosystem	26
31246611	habitat	the area where an organism lives, grows, and develops	27
31246612	herbivores	consumers that eat only plants	28
31246613	hydrologic cycles	The cycle through which water in the hydrosphere moves; includes such processes as evaporation, precipitation, and surface and groundwater runoff	29
31246614	hydrosphere	All the water at and near the surface of the earth, 97% of which is in oceans	30
31246615	limiting factor	an environmental factor that prevents a population from increasing	31
31246616	limiting factor principle	Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population of a species in an ecosystem, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range of tolerance for the species	32
31246617	natural greenhouse effect	The absorption of thermal energy by the atmosphere. It keeps the earth's temperature within a certain range.	33
31246618	net primary productivity	the rate at which biomass accumulates in an ecosystem	34
31246619	nitrogen cycle	the transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere	35
31246620	biogeochemical (nutrient) cycles	elements, chemical compounds and other forms of matter are passed between organisms and parts of the biosphere in a cycle	36
31246621	omnivores	a consumer that eats both plants and animals	37
31247151	photosynthesis	process by which plants and some other organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and high-energy carbohydrates such as sugars and starches	38
31247152	population	a group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area.	39
31247153	producers	organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis	40
31247154	pyramid of energy flow	energy loss for a simple food chain	41
31247155	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.	42
31247156	secondary consumers	animals that would feed off of herbivores or primary consumers	43
31247157	species	group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring	44
31247158	stratosphere	the layer of the atmosphere that contains the ozone layer; temperature increases as you go up	45
31247159	sulfur cycle	Cyclic movement of sulfur in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment.	46
31247160	third and higher level consumers	Carnivores that feed on other carnivores.	47
31247161	trophic level	a step in the movement of energy through an ecosystem; an organism's feeding status in an ecosystem.	48
31247162	troposphere	the layer closest to Earth, where almost all weather occurs; the thinnest layer	49