| A | B |
|---|
| Producer | The source of all food in the ecosystem. Another word for an organism who makes its own food. |
| Consumer | Another word for an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms. |
| Herbivore | A Consumer that eats only plants |
| Carnivore | A Consumer that eats only meat. |
| Omnivore | A Consumer that eats both plants and meat. |
| Scavenger | A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms. |
| Decomposer | Organisms that break down wasted and dead organisms and return the raw materials to the environment. |
| Food Chain | A series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy. |
| Food Web | Many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem. |
| Energy Pyramid | 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 surfact to the atmosphere and back. |
| Evaporation | The process by which liquid turns to gas. |
| Condensation | The process by which a gas changes to a liquid |
| Precipitation | As more water vapor condenses, the drops of water in the cloud grow larger and heavier. Eventually the heavy drops fall back to Earth. |
| Nitrogen fixation | The process of changing free nitrogen gas into a usable form of nitrogen. |
| Nodules | Bumps where certain bacteria can live. |
| Carbon and Oxygen Cycles | Producers use carbon dioxide to carry out photosynthesis. Carbon is used to create sugar molecules. The producers release oxygen, which is used by other organisms. These organisms take in carbon in food and release it in the form of carbon dioxide again. |
| 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 natrually evolved in an area are referred to as native species. |
| exotic species | When an organism is carried into a new location by people. |
