Ecology: Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycles

Vocabulary flashcards covering ecological feeding relationships, energy transfer, producers and consumers, and biogeochemical nutrient cycles.

Autotroph

An organism that captures energy from nonliving sources and converts it into forms living cells can use.

Primary Producers

The first producers of energy-rich compounds that can be used later by other organisms.

Photosynthesis

A process that harnesses solar energy to build living tissue and produce carbohydrates.

Chemosynthesis

A process in which chemical energy is used to produce carbohydrates.

Heterotrophs

Organisms that acquire energy by eating other organisms.

Consumers

Organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients.

Detritus

Small pieces of dead and decaying plant and animal remains.

Food Chain

A series of organisms in which energy is transferred from one organism to another.

Phytoplankton

Tiny floating algae.

Food Web

A network of feeding interactions through which both energy and matter move.

Trophic Level

Each step in a food chain or food web.

Ecological Pyramids

Models that show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a food chain or web.

Biomass

The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level.

Biogeochemical Cycles

Cycles through which matter flows from one trophic level to another and elements are recycled within and among ecosystems.

Nutrients

Elements that an organism needs to sustain life.

Nitrogen Fixation

A process by which certain types of bacteria convert nitrogen gas into ammonia.

Denitrification

A process by which bacteria obtain energy by converting nitrates into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere.

Limiting Nutrient

A nutrient whose supply limits productivity.