Chapter 5 vocab

sceince

17 cards·by gr8cem

carbon cycle

a process by which carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water, and organisms

cellular repiration

process of breaking down food to yield energy

climax community

a final and stable community

consumer

organism that get their energy from consuming other organisms

decomposer

get their food by breaking down other organisms

ecological succession

gradual process of change and replacement of the types of species in a community

food chain

a sequence in which energy is transferred from one organism to another a each organism eats another organism

food web

shows many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem

nitrogen cycle

process in which nitrogen is cycled between the atmosphere, bacteria, and other organisms

nitrogen fixing bacteria

organisms that can fix atmospheric nitrogen into chemical compounds

phosphorus cycle

movement of phosphorus from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment

photosynthesis

energy from the sun enters an ecosystem when a plant uses sunlight to make sugar

pioneer species

the first organisms to colonize any newly available area and begin the process of the ecological succession

primary succession

type of succession that occurs on a surface where no ecosystem has existed before

producer

an organism that makes its own food

secondary succession

occurs on a type of surface where an ecosystem has previously exsisted

trophic level

each step on the transfer of energy through a food chain or food web in an ecosystem