Vocab Unit 1 - Ecosystem Dynamics

Ecosystem

A community of the living things interacting with the nonliving things in the same area at the same time

Biotic Factor

Living parts in an ecosystem

Abiotic Factor

Non-living parts in an ecosystem

Predation

Biological interaction where a predator hunts a prey

Competition

When multiple organism seek the same limited resource

Symbiosis

Relationship between two different kinds of living species (not same species)

Mutualism

Relationship where both species benefit from the relationship

Commensalism

Relationship where one species benefit and the other is not helped or harmed (nothing happens to the other species)

Parasitism

Relationship where one species benefit and the other is harmed

Resource Partitioning

When species adapt to competition by evolving to use different resources or use the shared resources in a different way

Biogeochemical Cycle

The path that essential elements and water take as they move between living and nonliving parts of the Earth

Reservoir

Artificial body of water behind a dam that stores water for human use

Source

Origin where pollutants or resources enter the environment, RELEASES the substances into environment

Sink

Natural or artifical reservoirs that absorbs and STORES the chemical elements (like carbon)

Carbon Cycle

The route carbon moves between many ecosystems and living organisms

Photosynthesis

Process which autotrophs produce their own food (glucose) using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water

Cellular Respiration

Process which cells converts glucose into usable energy and releasing carbon dioxide and water (waste)

Decomposition

Breaking down dead organisms into basic nutrients, water, ad carbon dioxide

Nitrogen Cycle

Process that circulates nitrogen through atmosphere, land, and living organisms

Nitrogen Fixation

Chemical process that converts unusable nitrogen gas in the air into usable plant food like ammonia

Nitrification

Two step natural process where soil bacteria converts toxic raw ammonia into nitrate ions which are the vital nutrients plants absorb to grow

Assimilation

When the plant absorbs nitrate ions from the soil through their roots for proteins and DNA, living things actually absorb the food into their bodies

Ammonification

Process where decomposers break down organic matter and release compounds (contains ammonia or ammonium ions)

Denitrification

Final step of the nitrogen cycle as it turns leftover plant food into a gas to escape to the atmosphere

Phosphorus Cycle

Cycle of phosphorus through different environmental systems and living organisms

Hydrologic Cycle

Cycle of water through all around earth from the ocean, sky, to the land, and repeat

Evaporation

Final step in water cycle, when liquid water turns into water vapor

Transpiration

When water is taken from the soil, goes up the xylem, and evaporates inside the leaf to escape as water vapor through the stomata

Condensation

Process where water vapor cools down and turns into liquid water

Precipitation

Water that falls from the clouds to the Earth’s surface

Infiltration

When water soaks down into the soil

Primary Productivity

RATE which producers turn sunlight into chemical energy (food)

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

TOTAL amount of energy a plant captures from the sun through photosynthesis before using it

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

LEFTOVER energy that a plant has after they used it for their own growth and survival which is available for the heterotophs to consume

Biomass

Organic material from plants and animals can can be used as energy (energy stored inside organisms)

Limiting Nutrient

Nutrient that is in the shortest supply in an ecosystem (not enough)

Producer (autotroph)

Organism that makes their own food using sunlight or chemicals

Consumer (hetertroph)

Organism that cannot make their own food, must eat othe rliving things for energy

Trophic Level

Ranking in feeding hierarchy of a food chain, higher trophic levels eat lower

Food Chain

Linear pathway that shows who eats whom in an ecosystem

Food Web

Complex, interlocking network of multiple food chains (shows interlap and connections)

Ecological Pyramid

Graphical diagram shaped like a pyramid that shows the distribution of energy, biomass, or organism numbers through different trophic levels

Energy Transfer

Movement of energy from one organism to another up a food chain

10% Rule

When energy moves through one trophic level to the next, only 10% of the energy is stored as biomass, 90% is lost as heat + waste

Laws of Thermodynamics

Four rules that govern how heat and energy, move, transform, and spread throughout the universe