| A | B |
|---|
| photosynthesis | process in which energy from the sun is used by plants to make sugar mol. |
| primary & tertiary | two types of consumers |
| fossil fuels | stored carbon from remains of plants/animals that died millions of yrs. ago |
| producers | organisms that make their own food |
| food web | diagram that shows the many feeding relationships in an ecosystem |
| consumers | organisms that get their energy by eating other organisms |
| Atmospheric CO 2 | part of the carbon cycle |
| energy pyramid | illustrates the loss of energy from one trophic level to the next |
| eutrophication | result of excess fertilizer runoff |
| atmospheric N 2 | part of the nitrogen cycle |
| food chain | transfer of energy from one organism to another |
| old-field succession | change that occurs on an abandoned farm |
| nitrogen-fixing bacteria | organisms that transform atmospheric nitrogen to usable nit. compounds |
| Formula for photosynthesis | 6CO2+12H20+sunlight yields C6H12O6+6H20+602 |
| autotrophs | organisms (producers) that make their own food (Self-feeding) |
| heterotrophs | organisms that have to obtain food from outside sources |
| decomposers | break down dead organisms & return nutrients to soil |
| cellular respiration | process used by heterotrophs to break down food into usable energy |
| Amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere | 78% |
| Nitrogen cycle | rhizobia (nit. fixing bacteria) on nodules of plants convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable form |
| Ecological succession | gradual process of change & replacement of types of species in a community |
| Primary succession | occurs on a surface where no ecosystem existed before (i.e. rocks, cliffs) |
| Secondary succession | occurs on surface where an ecosystem previously existed (often caused by fire) |
| pioneer species | first organisms to colonize a new area - begins process of succession |
| climax community | final & stable community formed through succession |
| predation | one organism kills & eats another organism |
| prey | organism that is eaten |
| competition | when 2 or more organisms compete for the same limited resource |
| parasitism | when 1 organism takes nourishment from another (usually w/out killing it) |
| host | organism the parasite takes nourishment from |
| mutualism | cooperative partnership between 2 species - both benefit |
| commensalism | relationship where 1 species benefits, the other is neither harmed nor helped (rare) |
