APES Chapter 3 Vocab Flashcards

7746183022	Biosphere	The region of our planet where life resides, the combination of all ecosystems on Earth	0
7746183023	Producer	An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy (also known as autotroph)	1
7746183024	Photosynthesis	The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose	2
7746183025	Cellular respiration	The process by which cells unlock the energy of chemical compounds	3
7746183026	Consumer	An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain its energy by consuming other organisms (also known as heterotroph)	4
7746183027	Herbivore	A consumer that eats producers (also known as Primary consumer)	5
7746183028	Carnivore	A consumer that eats other consumers	6
7746183029	Secondary consumer	A carnivore that eats primary consumers	7
7746183030	Tertiary consumer	A carnivore that eats secondary consumers	8
7746183031	Trophic levels	The successive levels of organisms consuming one another	9
7746183032	Food web	A complex model of how energy and matter move between trophic levels	10
7746183033	Scavenger	An organism that consumes dead animals	11
7746183034	Detritivore	An organism that specializes in breaking down dead tissues and waste products into smaller particles	12
7746183035	Decomposers	The fungi and bacteria that complete the breakdown process by converting organic matter into small elements and molecules that can be recycled back into the ecosystem.	13
7746183036	Gross Primary Productivity	The total amount of solar energy that producers in an ecosystem capture via photosynthesis over a given amount of time	14
7746183037	Net Primary Productivity	The energy captured by produces in an ecosystem minus the energy producers respire	15
7746183038	Biomass	The total mass of all living matter in a specific area	16
7746183039	Standing crop	The amount of biomass present in an ecosystem at a particular time	17
7746183040	Ecological efficiency	The proportion of consumed energy that can be passed from one trophic level to another	18
7746183041	Trophic pyramid	A representation of the distribution of biomass, numbers, or energy among trophic levels	19
7746183042	Biogeochemical cycle	The movements of matter within and between ecosystems	20
7746183043	Hydrologic cycle	The movement of water through the biosphere	21
7746183044	Transpiration	The release of water from leaves during photosynthesis	22
7746183045	Evapotranspiration	The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration	23
7746183046	Runoff	Water that moves across the land surface and into streams and rivers	24
7746183047	Carbon Cycle	The movement of carbon around the biosphere	25
7746183048	Macronutrients	Key elements that organisms need in relatively large amounts: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur	26
7746183049	Limiting nutrient	A nutrient required for the growth of an organism but available in a lower quantity than other nutrients	27
7746183050	Nitrogen cycle	The movement of nitrogen around the biosphere	28
7746183051	Nitrogen fixation	A process by which some organisms can convert nitrogen gas molecules directly into ammonia	29
7746183052	Nitrification	The conversion of ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate	30
7746183053	Assimilation	The process by which producers incorporate elements into their tissues	31
7746183054	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	32
7746183055	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	33
7746183056	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	34
7746183057	Leaching	The transportation of dissolved molecules through the soil via groundwater	35
7746183058	Phosphorus cycle	The movement of phosphorus (which rarely changes form) around the biosphere	36
7746183059	Hypoxic	Low in oxygen	37
7746183060	Sulfur cycle	The movement of sulfur around the biosphere	38
7746183061	Disturbance	An event, caused by physical , chemical, or biological agents, resulting in changes in population size or community composition	39
7746183062	Watershed	All land in a given landscape that drains into a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland	40
7746183063	Resistance	A measure of how much a disturbance can affect flows of energy and matter in an ecosystem	41
7746183064	Resilience	The rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance	42
7746183065	Restoration ecology	The study and implementation of restoring damaged ecosystems	43
7746183066	Intermediate disturbance hypothesis	The hypothesis that ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with high or low disturbance levels	44