Biology ch 3 study cards Flashcards
Biogeochemical cycle
Relating to or denoting the cycle in which chemical elements and simple substances are transferred between living systems and the environment.
Biomass
The total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area or volume.
Carbon cycle
The process in which carbon atoms continually travel from the atmosphere to the Earth and then back into the atmosphere.
Carnivore
An organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals.
Consumer
An organism that cannot produce its own food and must eat other plants and/or animals to get energy.
Decomposer
An organism, often a bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, making organic nutrients available to the ecosystem.
Denitrification
The microbial process of reducing nitrate and nitrite to gaseous forms of nitrogen, principally nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen (N2).
Detritivore
An organism (such as an earthworm or a fungus) that feeds on dead and decomposing organic matter.
Ecosystem
A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Herbivore
An organism that mostly feeds on plants.
Nitrogen cycle
The series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.
Nitrogen fixation
The process by which nitrogen is taken from its molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds useful for other biochemical processes.
Omnivore
An organism that eats plants and animals.
Producer
An organism that creates its own food or energy.
Transpiration
The process by which plants give off water vapor through the stomata in their leaves.
