| A | B |
|---|
| Ecology | the study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their physical environments |
| habitat | the place where a particular population of species lives |
| community | many different species that live together in a habitat |
| ecosystem | a community and all the physical aspects of its habitat |
| species diversity | number of species living within an ecosystem |
| succession | the regular progression of species replacement |
| primary succession | succession occuring on land when nothing has grown before it |
| secondary succession | succession occuring in areas where there has been previous growth |
| primary productivity | the amountof organic material that the photosynthetic organisms of an ecosystem produce |
| producers | the organisms that frirst capture energy |
| consumers | organisms that obtain their energy by consuming plants or other organisms |
| trophic level | determined by the organism's source of energy |
| herbivores | animals that eat plants |
| carnivores | flesh eating animals |
| omnivores | eat both plants and animals, can't digest cellulose |
| detritivores | fungal and bacterial decomposers |
| decomposers | bacteria and fungi; cause decay. |
| food chain | a path of energy therough the trophic levels of an ecosystem |
| food web | complicated, interconnected path of engery |
| biomass | the dry weight of tissue and other organic matter |
| ground water | water retained beneath the surface of the earth |
| nitrogen fixation | the proccess of combining nitrogen gas with hydrogen to form ammonia |
| Assimilation | the absorption and incorporation of nitrogen into plant and animal compounds |
| Ammonification | the production of ammonia by bacteria during the decay of nitrogen-containing organic matter |
| Nitirfication | the production of nitrate from ammonia |
| Denirification | conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas |
