1
What term describes the non-living components of an environment such as water, sunlight, and soil?
Abiotic
What process do plants use to convert sunlight into chemical energy?
Photosynthetic
What are microscopic photosynthetic organisms that float in oceans and freshwater?
Phytoplankton
What term describes the total mass of living organisms in a given area?
Biomass
What term describes the different feeding positions in a food chain or food web?
Trophic levels
What do we call living organisms in an environment?
Biotic
What is the system formed by interactions between living organisms and their environment?
Ecosystem
What group of bacteria can perform photosynthesis and are important oxygen producers in water ecosystems?
Cyanobacteria
What is the ability to do work or cause change in an ecosystem?
Energy
What pyramid shows how energy decreases as it moves up a food chain?
Energy Pyramid
What are organisms called that cannot produce their own food and must consume others?
Heterotrophs
What are organisms called that make their own food and form the base of food chains?
Producers
What is an animal called that mainly eats plants?
Herbivore
What is the consumer that eats producers called in a food chain?
Primary consumer
What type of ecological succession begins in an area where no life previously existed?
Primary Succession
What are organisms called that can produce their own food using light or chemical energy?
Autotrophs
What are organisms that obtain energy by eating other organisms called?
Consumers
What is an animal that eats both plants and animals called?
Omnivore
What is a consumer that eats primary consumers called?
Secondary consumer
What are the first organisms to colonize a barren environment during succession?
Pioneer species
What process allows organisms to produce food using chemical energy instead of sunlight?
Chemosynthetic
What organisms break down dead matter and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem?
Decomposers
What do we call an organism that feeds on dead organic matter?
Detritivore
What is the consumer that feeds on secondary consumers called?
Tertiary consumer
What process causes liquid water to turn into water vapor due to heat from the sun?
Evaporation