GEE 001 - Ecosystem: What are they and How do they work?

Atmosphere

The layer of air surrounding earth, made up of the troposphere and the stratosphere

Hydrosphere

All the water at or near earth's surface, including ice, liquid water, and water vapor

Geosphere

The earth's hot core, thick rocky mantle, and thin outer crust

Biosphere

The parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere where life is found

Greenhouse Effect

The warming of earth's lower atmosphere because gases trap heat radiated from the surface

Organism

An individual living being

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place

Community

Populations of different species living and interacting in the same place

Ecosystem

A community of different species interacting with each other and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy

Producers (Autotrophs)

Organisms, mainly plants, that make their own nutrients through photosynthesis

Consumers (Heterotrophs)

Organisms that get their nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains

Herbivore

A consumer that eats only plants

Carnivore

A consumer that eats only meat

Omnivore

A consumer that eats both plants and meat

Decomposers

Organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, that break down dead organisms and waste, recycling nutrients back to producers

Food Chain

A sequence of organisms in which each one is a nutritional source for the next

Food Web

A complex network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem

Trophic Level

A feeding level in a food chain or web, such as producer, primary consumer, or secondary consumer

Pyramid of Energy Flow

A diagram showing how the amount of usable energy decreases at each higher trophic level

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

The rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy into biomass

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The rate at which producers store chemical energy through photosynthesis minus the energy they use for respiration

Biogeochemical Cycling

The movement of nutrients and energy through air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms, driven by solar energy and gravity

Water Cycle (Hydrologic Cycle)

The natural process that collects, purifies, and distributes earth's fixed supply of water through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation

Transpiration

The evaporation of water from the surface of plants into the atmosphere

Carbon Cycle

The movement of carbon through the atmosphere, land, ocean, and living things, mainly through photosynthesis and respiration

Nitrogen Cycle

The movement of nitrogen through the biosphere, converted by bacteria into forms plants can use and later released back into the atmosphere

Phosphorus Cycle

The movement of phosphorus through soils, rocks, water, and living things, without passing through the atmosphere

Sulfur Cycle

The movement of sulfur through the atmosphere, oceans, soil, and living things, from sources like volcanoes, sea spray, and decomposition

Acid Rain

Precipitation made acidic mainly by nitric acid and sulfuric acid released from human activities like burning fossil fuels