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10% rule
In ecology, the 10% rule states that only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next.
Abiotic
Non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment.
Assimilation
The process by which organisms convert nutrients into usable forms.
Autotroph
Organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
Biome
A large ecological area on the earth's surface, with flora and fauna adapting to their environment.
Biotic
Living components of an ecosystem.
Carbon cycle
The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
Cell respiration
The metabolic processes by which cells convert nutrients into energy.
Commensalism
A symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Competition (inter vs intraspecific)
Inter-specific competition occurs between different species, while intra-specific competition happens between members of the same species.
Consumer
Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms.
Decomposition
The process of breaking down dead organic matter into simpler substances.
Food chain
A linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another.
Food web
A complex network of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem.
Freshwater
Water that does not contain significant amounts of dissolved salts.
Gross primary productivity
The total amount of energy produced by photosynthetic organisms in a given area.
Hydrologic cycle
The continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
Marine
Related to the sea; ecosystems found in saltwater.
Mutualism
A symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit.
Negative feedback
A process that counteracts changes in a system, promoting stability.
Net primary productivity
The rate at which energy is stored in plants after accounting for respiration.
Nitrogen cycle
The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment.
Nitrogen fixation
The process of converting nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into ammonia or related compounds.
Parasitism
A relationship where one organism benefits at the expense of another.
Phosphorus cycle
The natural cycle through which phosphorus moves through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
Photosynthesis
The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods with the help of chlorophyll.
Positive feedback
A process that amplifies a condition; it enhances changes in a system.
Predator
An organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food.
Prey
An organism that is hunted and eaten by a predator.
Primary productivity
The rate at which energy is converted by photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs to organic substances.
Producer
Organisms, typically plants, that produce their own food and serve as the primary source of energy in an ecosystem.
Reservoir/sink (vs source)
A ___ is a storage location for a substance, while a ____ is where a substance originates.
Resource partitioning
The process by which species use different resources or habitats to reduce competition.
Salinity
The concentration of salts in water, often measured in parts per thousand.
Secondary productivity
The generation of biomass by heterotrophic organisms through the consumption of organic matter.
Source (vs sink)
A ____ releases a quantity of a substance, while a ____ absorbs it.
Symbiosis
A close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms.
Thermodynamics, 1st law
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.
Thermodynamics, 2nd law
In any energy transfer, the total entropy (disorder) of a closed system will always increase.
Trophic cascade
An ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators.
Trophic levels
The hierarchical levels in an ecosystem, consisting of producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, etc.
Turbidity
The cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles.
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