| A | B |
|---|
| Primary Producer | an organism that can capture energy from the sun or from chemicals and store it; also called autotroph |
| Photosynthesis | the process by which primary producers use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, releasing oxygen |
| Chemosynthesis | the process by which bacteria use energy stored in bonds of hydrogen sulfide to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars |
| Consumer | an organism that relies on other organisms for energy and nutrients also called heterotroph |
| Cellular Respiration | the process by which organisms use oxygen to release the chemical energy of sugars, producing carbon dioxide and water |
| Herbivore | an organism that eats plants |
| Carnivore | an animal that kills and eats other animals |
| Omnivore | an animal that eats both plants and animals |
| Detritivore | an organism (millipede or soil insect) that scavenges the waste products or dead bodies of other community members |
| Decomposer | an organism (fungus or bacterium) that breaks down non living matter into simple parts that can then be taken up and reused by primary producers |
| Trophic Level | a rank in a feeding hierarchy |
| Biomass | the total amount of tissue living in a trophic level |
| Food Chain | a linear series of feeding relationships |
| Food Web | a diagram of feeding relationships and energy flow showing the paths by which nutrients and enrgy pass from organism to organism as one consumes another |
| Keystone Species | a species that has a strong or wide ranging impact on a community |
| Succession | a somewhat predictable series of changes over time in a community |
| Primary Succession | the somewhat predictable series of changes in a community that follows a disturbance so severe that no vegetation or soil life remains |
| Pioneer Species | one of the first species to colonize newly exposed land |
| Secondary Succession | the somewhat predictable series of changes in a community that follows a disturbance (a fire, logging, or farming) that dramatically alters the community but does not destroy all vegetation or soil life |
| Invasive Species | a nonnative species that spreads widely in a community |
