3. Ecology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key ecological terms and concepts.

Ecology

Focuses on how organisms interact with one another and with their nonliving physical environment of matter and energy.

Ecosystem

A community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Biotic

Living components of an ecosystem, including producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Abiotic

Non-living components of an ecosystem, including light, soil, water, temperature, and climate.

Autotrophs

Organisms like green plants, cyanobacteria, and algae that produce their own nutrients; also known as producers.

Chemotrophs

Organisms that obtain energy by oxidizing inorganic or organic compounds.

Consumers

Organisms that cannot produce their own food and obtain nutrients by feeding on other producers or consumers.

Decomposers

Consumers such as bacteria and fungi that obtain nutrients by breaking down the wastes of plants and animals.

Herbivores

Primary consumers that eat plants or algae.

Carnivores

Consumers that eat other animals.

Omnivores

Consumers that eat both plants and animals.

Detritivores

Consumers that get nutrients by feeding on dead organic matter.

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants capture solar energy and combine CO2 and H2O to produce glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen.

Respiration

The process by which organisms use oxygen to convert glucose and other organic compounds back into CO2, water, and energy.

Food Chain

A sequence of organisms with each serving as a source of nutrients and energy for the next level of organism.

Food Web

A complex network of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.

Trophic Levels

The various steps in a food chain or ecological pyramid at which the transfer of food (or energy) takes place from one organism to another.

Nutrient Cycle

The movement of elements and compounds that make up nutrients continually through air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms within an ecosystem.

Water Cycle

The continuous process by which water collects, purifies, and distributes the earth's fixed supply of water.

Carbon Cycle

The process by which various compounds of carbon circulate through the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.

Nitrogen Cycle

The process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms. This transformation can be carried out through both biological and physical processes.

Groundwater

Precipitation that seeps into the soil that seeps deeper into the soil.

Aquifers

Underground layers of sand and water bearing rock where groundwater collects.