| A | B |
|---|
| ecology | study of the interactions between living things and their environment |
| interdependence | the interconnectedness of living things and their environment |
| ecological model | represent components of an environment because it is complex and difficult to study |
| biosphere | where all life is found whether it is land, water, or air |
| ecosystem | includes all living organisms and nonliving things in a particular area |
| community | all the living things in an area |
| population | all the members of a species in an area at a given time |
| habitat | the place where an organism lives |
| phosphorus cycle | how phosphorus cycles from environment to organisms and back again |
| denitrification | where anaerobic bacteria break down nitrates and release nitrogen gas to the atmosphere |
| nitrification | where soil bacteria take ammonium and change it to nitrates (plants use to make amino acids) |
| ammonification | the process where decomposers take nitrogen in dead bodies and release ammonium NH4+ in the soil |
| nitrogen fixation | converting N2 gas to nitrate |
| nitrogen cycle | how nitrogen cycles in an ecosystem |
| carbon cycle | how carbon cycles between land, respiration/photosynthesis, and air |
| transpiration | the process of water evaporating from plant leaves |
| water cycle | the movement of water between various resrvoirs by evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation |
| food web | interrelated food chains in an ecosystem |
| food chain | single pathway of feeding relationships in an ecosystem |
| producer | make their own organic material or food |
| chemosynthesis | make own food from chemicals or inorganic substances |
| biomass | organic material that has been produced by an ecosystem |
| consumers | heterotrophs that need to obtain energy made by other organisms |
| herbivores | organisms that eat plants or producers |
| carnivores | eat other consumers |
| omnivores | eat producers and consumers |
| detritovores | consumers that feed on garbage or waste |
| decomposers | detritovres that cause decay by breaking down organic molecules |
| trophic level | shows the organisms position in a sequence of energy transfers |
