| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | the study of the interactions between organisms and the living and nonliving components of their environment |
| greenhouse effect | the mechanism that insulates Earth from the deep freeze of space |
| biosphere | the thin volume of Earth and its atmosphere that supports life |
| ecosystem | all of the organisms and the nonliving environment found in a particular place |
| community | all the interacting organisms living in an area |
| population | all the members of a species that live in one place at one time |
| biotic factors | the living components of the environment |
| habitat | where an organism lives |
| abiotic factors | the nonliving components of the environment |
| tolerance curve | a graph of performance versus values of an environmental variable, such as temperature |
| acclimation | the process of an organism's adjustment to an abiotic factor |
| conformer | organisms that cannot regulate their internal conditions |
| regulators | organisms that use energy to control some of their internal conditions |
| dormancy | a state of reduced activity |
| migration | moving to another, more favorable habitat |
| resources | the energy and and materials the species needs |
| niche | the role of an organism in its environment |
| fundamental niche | the range of conditions that a species can potentially tolerate and the range of resources it can potentially use |
| realized niche | the range of resources it actually uses |
| generalists | species with broad niches |
| specialists | species that have narrow niches |
| Producers | Autotrophs that capture energy and use it to make organic molecules. |
| Chemosynthesis | The production of carbohydrates by using energy from inorganic molecules. |
| Gross primary productivity | The rate at which producers in an ecosystem capture energy. |
| Biomass | The organic material in an ecosystem. |
| Net primary productivity | The rate at which biomass accumulates. |
| Consumers | Organisms that obtain energy by consuming organic molecules made by other organisms. |
| Carnivores | Consumers that eat meat. |
| Omnivores | Consumers that eat both plants and meat. |
| Detrivores | Consumers that eat the recently dead, fallen leaves, branches, and animal wastes. |
| Decomposers | Cause decay by breaking down the complex molecules in dead tissue and wastes into simpler molecules. |
| Trophic level | The position in the sequnece of energy transfers. |
| Food chain | A single pathway of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem that results in energy transfer. |
| Food web | Interrelated food chains in an ecosytem. |
| Biogeochemical cycle | The process by which materials necessary for organisms are circulated through the environment. |
| Ground water | Water in the soil or in underground formations of porous rock. |
| Water cycle | The movement of water through the environment. |
| Transpiration | Plants take in water through their roots and then release it through the stomata in their leaves. |
| Carbon cycle | The movement of carbon through the environment. |
| Nitrogen cycle | The movement of nitrogen through the environment. |
| Nitrogen fixation | The process of converting nitrogen gas to ammonia. |
| Nitrogen-fixing bacteria | Bacteria that convert nitrogen gas into ammonia. |
| Ammonification | When decomposers break dwon the corpses and wastes of organisms and release the nitrogen they contain as ammonia. |
| Nitrification | When bacteria in the soil take up ammonia and oxidize it into nitrites and nitrates. |
| Denitrification | When anaerobic bacteria break down nitrates and release nitrogen gas back into the atmosphere. |
