B4 Community Level Systems

Ecosystem

A community of living organisms and their physical environment interacting as a system.

Community

The group of interacting organisms living in a particular area.

Habitat

The natural environment in which a species or community of species lives.

Population

The total number of organisms of a particular species within a habitat.

Producers

Organisms that produce their own food, typically through photosynthesis, such as plants and algae.

Consumers

Organisms that cannot make their own food and must eat other organisms to gain energy.

Decomposers

Organisms that break down dead or decaying material, returning nutrients to the environment.

Food Chain

A linear sequence that shows how energy and nutrients flow from one organism to another.

Trophic Level

Each step in a food chain or food web where organisms obtain energy.

Food Web

A complex network of interconnected food chains showing how different organisms are related in an ecosystem.

Biotic Factors

Living components of an ecosystem, including plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Abiotic Factors

Non-living physical and chemical components of an ecosystem, such as temperature, moisture, and pH.

Nutrient Cycling

The movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter.

Carbon Cycle

The cycle through which carbon is exchanged between the earth and the atmosphere.

Nitrogen Cycle

The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms.

Decomposition

The process by which organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter.

Egestion

The process of discharging undigested food from the body.

Excretion

The process of removing waste products produced by metabolic processes.

Biomass

The total mass of living matter in a given unit area, including all the organisms.

Efficiency of Biomass Transfer

The percentage of biomass transferred from one trophic level to the next in a food chain.

Mutualism

A symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit.

Predation

A relationship in which one organism (the predator) eats another organism (the prey).

Parasitism

A relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of the other (the host).

Respiration

The process by which organisms convert oxygen and glucose into energy, producing carbon dioxide and water as byproducts.

Photosynthesis

The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods with the help of chlorophyll.

Carbon Cycle

The cycle through which carbon is exchanged between the earth and the atmosphere, involving processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, and combustion.

Nitrogen Cycle

The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification, and ammonification.

Water Cycle

The continuous movement of water between the earth's surface and the atmosphere, involving processes such as evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and infiltration.