Ecosystems
A community of living organisms and their physical environment interacting as a functional unit
Ecosystems
An organism that can make its own food
Producers
A simple energy source which is a biproduct of photosynthesis.
Glucose
A common demand by two or more organisms upon a limited supply of a resource.
Competition
The variety of life on Earth, including all the different plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms.
Biodiversity
Relating to the Earth or its land surface
Terrestrial Biome
Items which obtain energy by eating producers or other consumers, transferring energy through the food chain.
Consumers
A green pigment found in plants that absorbs sunlight for photosynthesis.
Chlorophyll
Members of the same species compete for limited resources.
Intraspecific Competition
The alteration or elimination of natural habitats, which can lead to species extinction and loss of biodiversity.
Habitat Destruction
Relating to water or living in water
Aquatic Biome
Break down dead organisms, recycling nutrients back into the environment.
Decomposers
Changes in an organism's structure or behavior that help it survive in its environment.
Adaptions
A form of competition in which individuals of different species compete for the same resources in an ecosystem.
Interspecific competition
The process of dividing large areas of habitat into smaller, isolated pieces.
Habitat Fragmentation
A forest made up of cone-bearing trees, that have needle-like leaves and stay green all year
Coniferous Forest
The process of breaking down food to create energy for cells
Cellular Respiration
The smallest structural units of living matter and compose all living things.
Cell
Overexploitation of a resource, even if initially abundant, can lead to its depletion and subsequent population decline.
Resource Depletion
A close, long-term relationship between two or more different species of organisms
Symbiosis
A forest made up of trees that shed their leaves each year, usually in the fall, to prepare for winter.
Deciduous Forest
A process in which one or more substances, the reactants, are converted to one or more different substances, the products.
Chemical Reaction
A chemical process that breaks down glucose and other biological fuels to produce energy for cells.
Cellular Respiration
A linear pathway that shows how energy and materials move from one species to another
Food Chains
Any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provide to people.
Ecosystem Service