| A | B |
|---|
| PRODUCER | An organism that can make its own food |
| CONSUMER | An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms |
| HERBIVORE | An animal that eats only plants |
| CARNIVORE | An animal that eats only meat |
| OMNIVORE | An animal that eats both plants and animals |
| SCAVENGER | A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| DECOMPOSER | An organism that breaks down large chemicals from dead organisms into small chemicals and returns important materials to the soil and water |
| FOOD CHAIN | A series of events in which one organism eats another |
| FOOD WEB | The pattern of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem |
| ENERGY PYRAMID | A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web |
| WATER CYCLE | The continuous process by which water moves from Earth’s surface to the atmosphere and back |
| EVAPORATION | The process by which molecules of a liquid absorb energy and change to the gas state |
| CONDENSATION | The process by which a gas changes to a liquid |
| PRECIPITATION | Rain, snow, sleet or hail |
| NITROGEN FIXATION | The process of changing free nitrogen gas into a useable form |
| NODULE | Bumps on the roots of certain plants that house nitrogen-fixing bacteria |
| BIOGEOGRAPHY | The study of where organisms live |
| CONTINENTAL DRIFT | The very slow motion of the continents |
| DISPERSAL | The movement of organisms from one place to another |
| NATIVE SPECIES | Species that have naturally evolved in an area |
| EXOTIC SPECIES | Species that are carried to a new location by people |
| CLIMATE | The typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time |
| BIOME | A group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms |
| CANOPY | A leafy roof formed by tall trees |
| UNDERSTORY | A layer of shorter plants that grow in the shade of a forest canopy |
| DESERT | An area in which the yearly amount of evaporation is greater than the amount of precipitation |
| GRASSLAND | An area populated by grasses that gets 25 – 75 centimeters of rain each year |
| SAVANNA | A grass land close to the equator |
| DECIDUOUS TREE | Trees that shed their leaves and grow new ones each year |
| CONIFEROUS TREE | Trees that produce their seeds in cones and have needle-shaped leaves |
| TUNDRA | An extremely cold, dry biome |
| PERMAFROST | Soil that is frozen all year |
| ESTUARY | A habitat in which the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean |
| INTERTIDAL ZONE | The area between the highest high-tide line and the lowest low-tide line |
| NERITIC ZONE | The region of shallow ocean water over the continental shelf |
| SUCCESSION | The series of predictable changes that occur in a community over time |
| PRIMARY SUCCESSION | The changes that occur in an area where no ecosystem had existed |
| PIONEER SPECIES | The first species to populate an area |
| SECONDARY SUCCESSION | The changes that occur after a disturbance in an ecosystem |
