| A | B |
|---|
| photosynthesis | plants, algae, and some bacteria capture solar energy. Solar energy drives chemical reactions that require carbon dioxide,and water. The result is production of sugar molecules called carbohydrates. |
| producer | an organism that makes its own food; autotrophs or self-feeders |
| consumers | organisms that get their energy by eating other organisms; called heterotrophs, or other feeders |
| herbivore | producers, cows, sheep, deer, and grasshoppers eat grass |
| carnivore | other consumers eat lions, hawks, snakes, spiders, sharks, alligators and whales eat meat |
| omnivore | both producers and consumers; bears, pigs, gorillas, rats, raccoons, cockroaches, insects, and humans |
| decomposer | breaks down dead organisms in an ecosystem and returns nutrients to the soil, water, and air like fungi and bacteria |
| cellular respiration | the process of breaking down food to yield energy |
| food chain | a sequence in which energy is transferred from one organism to the next as each organism eats another organism |
| food web | shows how many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem |
| energy pyramid | shows how energy is lost from one trophic level to the next. The grass at the bottom level stores 1,000 times more energy than the hawk at the top level |
| carbon cycle | a process by which carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water, and organisms. |
| nitrogen cycle | a process in which nitrogen is cycled between the atmosphere, bacteria, and other organisms |
| phosphorus cycle | the movement of phosphorus from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment. |
| acid precipitation | burned fuel releases nitric oxide into the atmosphere which results in acid rain |
| ecological succession | a gradual process of change and replacement of some or all of the species in a community |
| primary succession | is the type of succession that occurs on a surface where no ecosystem existed, such as on rocks or sand dunes |
| secondary succession | occurs in ecosystems that have been disturbed or disrupted by humans or animals, or by natural processes such as storms, floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes |
| pioneer species | the first organisms to colonize any newly available area and begin the process of ecological succession |
| climax community | a final and stable community |
