5.3/5.4 terms

Photosynthesis

the process by which primary producers use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, releasing oxygen

Chemosynthesis

the process by which bacteria use energy stored in bonds of hydrogen sulfide to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars

Consumer

an organism that relies on other organisms for energy and nutrients; also called heterotroph

Herbivore

an organism that eats plants

Carnivore

an animal that kills and eats other animals,

Omnivore

an animal that eats both plants and animals

Detritivore

an organism that scavenges the waste products or dead bodies of other community members

Decomposer

an organism (e.g., a fungus or bacterium) that breaks down nonliving matter into simple parts that can then be taken up and reused by primary producers

Trophic level

a rank in a feeding hierarchy

Biomass

the total amount of living tissue in a trophic level,

Food chain

a linear series of feeding relationships

Food web

diagram of feeding relationships and energy flow showing the paths by which nutrients and energy pass from organism to organism as one consumes another,

Keystone species

a species that has a strong or wide-ranging impact on a community

Primary succession

the somewhat predictable series of changes in a community that follows a disturbance so severe that no vegetation or soil life remains

Pioneer species

one of the first species to colonize newly exposed land

Secondary succession

the somewhat predictable series of changes in a community that follows a disturbance

Invasive species

a nonnative species that spreads widely in a community

primary producers

An autotroph, usually a photosynthetic organism. Collectively, autotrophs make up the trophic level of an ecosystem that ultimately supports all other levels.

lichen

symbiotic association between a fungus and a photosynthetic organism