Unit 1: The Living World - Ecosystems Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards generated from the Unit 1 core concepts overview, covering biomes, species interactions, biogeochemical cycles, and energy flow.

Predator-Prey Relationship

An interaction in an ecosystem where the predator organism hunts and eats the prey organism.

Symbiosis

A close and long-term interaction between two species in an ecosystem, which includes mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Resource Partitioning

The process of using resources in different ways, places, or times to reduce the negative impact of competition on species survival.

Biome

A community of plants and animals that have evolved to a specific area's climate, where climate (temperature and precipitation) determines soil, flora, and fauna.

Estuary

A marine biome located where fresh water and saltwater combine.

Carbon Cycle

The movement of atoms and molecules of carbon between sources and sinks, cycling between photosynthesis and cellular respiration in living things.

Reservoirs

Areas within biogeochemical cycles where matter is stored for varying long or short periods of time.

Nitrogen Cycle

The movement of atoms and compounds containing nitrogen between sources and sinks, with the atmosphere acting as the primary reservoir.

Nitrogen Fixation

The process in which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate that can be taken up by plants and incorporated into plant tissues.

Phosphorus Cycle

The movement of atoms and compounds containing phosphorus between sources and sinks, characterized by having no atmospheric component and utilizing rock and sediments as major reservoirs.

Hydrologic Cycle

The sun-powered movement of water in its solid, liquid, and gaseous phases between sources and sinks.

Primary Productivity

The rate at which sunlight is converted into organic compounds (glucose) via photosynthesis per unit of time, measured in units like $kcal/m^2/year$.

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

The total rate of photosynthesis in a given area.

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The rate of energy storage by plants in a given area after subtracting the energy used for respiration ($R$), calculated as $NPP = GPP - R$.

10% Rule

The principle stating that only $10\%$ of all energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next higher level.

Food Web

A model showing how energy and nutrients flow through two or more interconnected food chains.