| A | B |
|---|
| Biomass | Total mass of living organisms |
| Biomass pyramid | Diagram showing mass of living things in an ecosystem. Greatest is producers. Decreases as you go up it (usually). Amount supported at each level depends on the amount of available energy. |
| Energy pyramid | Diagram that shows how much energy moves from level to level. Bottom (1st level) has the most, which are producers. 10% of energy is transferred to the next. Most is lost as heat. Each level has less energy than the level below it. |
| Trophic level | Each step in a food chain or food web. Feeding level. |
| Decomposer | Gets energy by breaking down organic compounds such as waste and dead things. Examples: fungi and bacteria |
| Scavenger | Consumers that eat plant and animal remains. Ex: vulture eats roadkill. |
| Omnivore | Consumers that eat both plants and meat. Ex: bears eat berries and rabbits. birds eat insects and seeds. |
| Carnivore | Consumers that eat only other consumers (meat). Ex: Lion eats gazelle. |
| Herbivore | Consumers that eat only producers (plants). Ex: Rabbit eats grass. |
| Consumer | An organism that gets its energy by eating another. Also called a heterotroph. Ex: fungi, humans, lion, rabbits |
| Producer | An organism that makes its own food. Also called an autotroph. Ex: oak tree, some bacteria, phytoplankton |
| Niche | Role of an organism in its environment. Includes daily activities, what it eats, how it gets food, when it reproduces, where it lives, etc. |
| Sunlight | Energy enters most ecosystems as this. Necessary for photosynthetic producers. |
| Secondary succession | When an ecosystem has been changed by a catastrophic event like fire, volcanic eruption, etc. |
| Climax community | Populations of organisms are in balance with each other. Stable community. |
| Pioneer species | First organisms to populate an area. |
| Primary succession | Start of succession. Almost nothing exists to grow on. Ex: Volcano forms new island. |
| Ecological succession | Series of changes that occur in a community over time. Each new population changes the environment. Ex: grass-->bushes-->trees -->represents "replaced by" |
| Gene pool | Total number of genes found in a species. If it is diverse, then it contributes to the stability of an ecosystem. |
| Economic value | Having worth in terms of money |
| Ecological value | Affecting other living things in an ecosystem. Ex: species depend on each other for food and shelter. |
| Biodiversity | Number of different species that live in an area. Higher biodiversity=ecosystem stability |
