Untitled Flashcards Set

Biosphere

The thin layer of Earth and its atmosphere that supports life.

Habitat

A region of land where an organism collects food.

Population

A group of organisms of the same species in the same area.

Community

All interacting populations in the same area.

Limiting factor

A biotic or abiotic factor that restricts organism numbers.

Zone of Intolerance

The zone that lies at the outer ends of the tolerance range.

Zone of Physiological Stress

The zone that lies just outside the optimal range.

Optimal Range

The middle range in the tolerance graph.

Lower Limit and Upper Limit

The ends of the tolerance range represent these limits.

Trophic level

A step in a food chain or web.

Biomass

The total mass of living matter.

Green Plants

The autotrophs in the food web.

Rabbits, Mice, Seed-Eating Birds, and Squirrels

The herbivores in the food web.

Foxes, Hawks, and Owls

The carnivores in the food web.

No, there aren’t

The answer to the presence of omnivores in the food web.

Ten percent

The percent of energy transferred between trophic levels.

Most of energy in organisms

What is released at each level of an energy pyramid.

Detritivores

Organisms that rid the environment of waste and dead matter.

Biogeochemical cycle

Explains the flow of elements between organisms and the environment.

Energy

What flows one way in living systems.

Nutrients

What recycles in living systems.

Evaporation, Percolation, Transpiration, Condensation, Runoff, Sun, Groundwater, Precipitation

Processes in the water cycle.

Combustion, Decay, Diffusion, Photosynthesis, Respiration, Deforestation, Sedimentation

Processes that return carbon to the atmosphere.

Fossil fuels combusting

What increases CO₂ in the modern atmosphere.

Enters

What N₂ does in the soil.

Nitrogen Fixation

Captures and converts nitrogen for plants.

Decomposers

Breaks down nitrogen compounds in soil.

Carbon

What is locked into long-term cycles at ocean bottoms.

Weathering

The process that releases phosphorus from rocks.