env sci Chapter 5 Flashcards
Photosynesis
The process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce carbohydrate and oxygen
Producer
An organism that can make organic molecules from inorganic molecules; photosynthetic or chemosynthetic autotroph that serves as the basic food source in an ecosystem.
Consumer
An organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing its own nutrients or obtaining nutrients from organic sources.
Ecological succession
A gradual process of change and replacement in a community.
Primary succession
Succession that begins in an area that previously did not support life.
Secondary succession
The process by which one community replaces another community that has been partially or totally destroyed.
Pioneer species
A species that colonizes an uninhabitable area and that starts an ecological cycle in which many other species become established.
Climax community
A final, community in equilibrium with the environment.
An organism that feeds by breaking down organic matter from dead organisms; examples include bacteria and fungi.
Decomposer
The process by witch cells produce energy from carbohydrates; atmospheric oxygen combines with glucose to form water and carbon dioxide.
Cellular Respiration
The pathway of energy transfer through various stages as a result of the feeding patterns of a series of eded.
Food Chain
A diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.
Food Web
One of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers.
Tropic Level
The movement of carbon from the
Nonliving environment into living things and back
Carbon Cycle
Bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen ammonia.
Nitrogen - Fixing Bacteria
