Ecosystem vocab Flashcards
Biome
a major ecological community such as grassland, tropical rain forest, or desert
Food chain
A model that shows one set of feeding relationships among living things.
Energy pyramid
a model that shows the available amount of energy in each trophic layer in an ecosystem
Coniferous
plants that produce reproductive organs called cones
Deciduous
a forest containing trees that lose their leaves each year
Food web
a model that shows many different feeding relationships among living things
Decomposer
organisms which carry out the process of decomposition by breaking down dead or decaying organisms
Ecology
the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
Cycle
a process that repeats
nitrogen cycle
a process in which nitrogen in the atmosphere enters the soil and becomes part of living organisms then eventually returns to the atmosphere
Biotic factors
a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem
Water cycle
the continual movement of water between the land, ocean, and the air
Abiotic factor
a nonliving condition or thing, as climate or habitat, that influences or affects an ecosystem and the organisms in it
Producer
an organism that makes its own food; an organism that does not consume other plants or animals
Carbon cycle
a natural cycle in which carbon compounds, mainly carbon dioxide, are incorporated into living tissue through photosynthesis and returned to the atmosphere by respiration, decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels
