BIO Chapter 53 textbook flashcards

Net primary productivity

(NPP) In an ecosystem, the total amount of biomass generated by the fixation of carbon through photosynthesis per year minus the amount oxidized during cellular respiration in primary producers. Compare with gross primary productivity.

Detritus

A layer of dead organic matter that accumulates at ground level or on seafloors and lake bottoms.

Secondary consumers

A carnivore; an organisms that eats herbivores. Compare with primary consumer.

Decomposer food chain

An ecological network of detritus, decomposers that eat detritus, and predators and parasites of the decomposers.

Global warming

A sustained increase in Earth’s average surface temperature.

Global water cycle

The movement of water among abiotic and biotic reservoirs in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.