Vocabulary Words

Flow of Matter and Energy

Producer

an organism that uses sunlight directly to

make sugar which in turn makes energy

Consumer

an organism that eats producers or other

organisms for energy

Decomposer

an organism that gets energy by breaking down

the remains of dead organism and consuming

or absorbing the nutrients

Plankton

The collection of small or microscopic organisms,

including algae and protozoans, that float or drift in great

numbers in fresh or salt water, especially at or near the surface,

and serve as food for fish and other larger organisms.

Phytoplankton

consisting of free-floating algae, protists, and cyanobacteria.

Phytoplankton form the beginning of the food chain for aquatic

animals and fix large amounts of carbon, which would otherwise be

released as carbon dioxide.

phyto- a combining form meaning “plant”

Zooplankton

a collection or mass of small or microscopic floating animals, including corals, rotifers, sea anemones, jellyfish. copepods, and krill, and microorganisms

once classified as animals, such as dinoflagellates and other

protozoans

Food Web

A complex diagram representing the many energy pathways in a

real ecosystem

Food Chain

A diagram that represents how the

energy in food molecules flows from one organism to the

next

Energy Pyramid

A diagram shaped like a triangle showing the loss of energy at each

level of the food energy

Predator

An organism that eats other organisms

Prey

An organism that is eaten by another

organism

Carnivore

A consumer that eats animals

Omnivore

A consumer that eats a variety of

organisms

Herbivore

A consumer that eats plants

Scavenger

An animal that feeds on the bodies of dead

animals

Host

a living animal or plant from which a

parasite obtains nutrition

Parasite

an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known

as the host, from the body of which it obtains

nutriment.

Water cycle

The cycle of evaporation and

condensation that controls the distribution

of the earth's water  

Precipitation

water that moves from the atmosphere to the

land and ocean, including rain, snow,

sleet and hail.

Evaporationthe change of state from liquid to vapor

Condensationthe conversion of water from the vapor state to a denser liquid or solid

state

Transpirationthe loss of water from plants leaves through

opening called stomata

Ground water

Water beneath the earth's surface 

Carbon cycle

the movement of atoms of carbon

through the biosphere by photosynthesis, decomposition, and

respiration  

 

Photosynthesis

The process in green plants where carbohydrates are

made from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy

source. Photosynthesis also produces the sugars that feed the plant and release oxygen

as a byproduct.

Decomposition

the breakdown of dead materials into carbon dioxide and

water

Respirationthe exchange of gases

between living cells and their environment

Combustionthe process of burning, includes the burning of

fossil fuels

Nitrogen cycle

the circulation of nitrogen; nitrates from the soil are absorbed by plants which are eaten by animals that

die and decay returning the nitrogen back to the soil

 

Nitrogen fixation

the process of changing nitrogen gas into forms

that plants can use.