| A | B |
|---|
| abiotic factors | physical, or nonliving, factor that shapes an ecosystem |
| acid rain | gases that combine with water vapor in the air, they form drops of nitric acid and sulferic acid |
| algal bloom | an immediate increase in the amount algae and other producers that results from a large input of a limiting nutrient |
| aquaculture | farming of aquatic ecosystems |
| autotroph | an organism that makes its own food;the source of energy for all other living things on earth |
| autotrophs | use sun for energy |
| biodiversity | the variety of species in an area |
| biomass | the dry weight of tissue and other organic matter |
| biosphere | all of the Earth's ecosystems |
| biotic factors | biological in fluence on organisms within an ecosystem |
| carnivore | an organism that eats animals |
| carnivores | meat eaters |
| carrying capacity | the largest population of any single species that an area can support |
| chemosynthesis | use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates |
| commensalisms | symbiotic relationship in which one member of the association benefits andthe other is neither helped nor harmed |
| community | a combination of all the different populations that live and interact in the same environment |
| competition | the struggle between organisms for the same limited resources in a particular area |
| consumers | organisms that obtain energy by consuming plants and/or other organisms |
| decomposer | the process whereby dead organisms, as well as the wasters produced by living organisms, are broken down into their raw materials and returned to the ecosystem |
| deforestation | forest destruction that results from human activity |
| desertification | parts of the world were a with dry clumate a combination of farming, overgrazing, and drought has turned productive areas into deserts |
| detritivore | feeds on plant and animal remains and other dead matter |
| direct harvesting | the destruction of an organism, or the removal of an organism from its habitat |
| ecological niche | the specific role played by an organism or a population of organisms in the ecosystem |
| ecological pyramid | diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy |
| ecological succession | the process by which an existing community is replaced by another community |
| ecology | the study of how living things interact with one another and with their environment |
| ecosystem | all the living and nonliving things that interact in a specific area |
| emigration | movement of individuals out of a population |
| energy flow | the movement of energy through an ecosystem |
| energy pyramid | shows how the food energy moves through an ecosystem |
| environmental impact statement | a statement which includes an anyalysis of how a new project or technology might affect the environment |
| evaporation | process by which water changes from a liquid into an atmospheric gas |
| food chain | identifies the specific feeding relationships among organisms |
| food web | a representation of many interconnected food chains that shows the feeding relationhips among producers, consumer, and decomposers |
| fossil fuel | a fuel that comes from the remains of organisms; nonrenewable |
| global warming | an increase in the Earth's average surface temperature caused by an increase in greenhouse gases |
| green revolution | introduction of intensive farming practices that lead to a substantial increase in crop yield |
| habitat | the place where an animal or plant lives |
| herbivore | obtains energy by eating only plants |
| heterotroph | an organism that cannot make its own food; a consumer |
| host | an organism in a parasitic relationship that provides a home and/or food for the parasite |
| immigration | movement of individuals into an area occupied by an existing population |
| industrialization | the process of converting an economy into one in which large-scale manufacturing is the primary economic base |
| limiting factors | any factor (abiotic or biotic) that limits the size of a population |
| limiting nutrient | single nutrient that either is scarce or cycles very slowly, limiting the growth of organisms in an ecosystem |
| mutualism | symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship |
| niche | the full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions. |
| nitrogent fixation | process of converting nitrogen has into ammonia |
| nonrenewable resource | one that cannot be replensihed by natural process |
| nuclear fuel | an energy source from the splitting of atoms |
| nutrient | chemical substance that an organism requires to live |
| omnivore | obtains energy by eating both plants and animals |
| ozone shield | the layer of ozone gas in the upper atmosphere that protects Earth from some of the sun's radiation |
| parasite | an organism that survives by living in and feeding on other organisms |
| parasitism | symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives in or on another organism and harms it |
| photosynthesis | use light energy to power chemical reaction |
| pioneer species | first species to populate an area during primary succession |
| pollutant | harmful material that can enter the bioshphere throught the land, air, or water |
| pollution | a harmful change in the chemical makeup of the soil, water, or air |
| population | all the individuals of a single species that live in a specific area |
| population density | number of individual per unit of area |
| predation | interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism |
| predator | an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food |
| prey | an animal that is hunted and killed by predators |
| primary productivity | rate at which organic matter is created by producers in an ecosystem |
| primary succession | succession that occurs on land where nothing has grown before |
| producer | an organism that makes its own food from light energy and inorganic material |
| producers | organisms that produce their own food |
| reduce, reuse, recycle | Methods used to preserve resources |
| renewable resource | can regenerate and are therefore replaceable |
| resource | any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food, or space |
| scavenger | a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms |
| secondary succession | succession following a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil |
| smog | mixture of checmicals that occurs as a gray brown haze in the atmosphere |
| soil erosion | wearing away of surface soil by water and wind |
| species diversity | the number of species within an ecosystem |
| subsistence hunting | hunting only to acquire basic necessities for survival |
| succession | the regular progression of species replacement |
| sustainable use | way of using natural resources at a rate that does not deplete it |
| symbiosis | relationship in which two species live closely together |
| symbiotic | a relationship in which at least one species benefits and neither species is harmed |
| technology | all of the scientific knowledge that has been used to meet human needs |
| trade-off | an exchange or agreement made to reach a compromise |
| transpiration | water leaves plant |
| trophic level | step in a food chain or food web |
| water cycle | the process by which water continuously moves from Earth's surface to the atmosphere and back |
