Levels of Biological Organization
These include only the living part of the environment
What are biotic factors?
very dry most of the year and usually warm to hot in the day
What is a desert?
This cycle has no atmospheric component
What is the phosphorus cycle?
The total amount of organic material fixed by photosynthesis
What is gross primary productivity?
what all food chains start with
What are producers?
includes only organisms of the same species
What is a population?
rainy and warm
What is a tropical rain forest?
The main sink in the atmosphere
What is the nitrogen cycle?
the process in plants that reduces the energy available to animals
What is respiration?
What is 10%
An assemblage of populations
What is a community?
where we live
What is a temperate forest?
Move relatively quickly by respiration and photosynthesis
What is carbon?
The most productive terrestrial biome
What is the tropical rainforset?
another name for primary consumers
What are herbivores?
Organizational level that includes biotic and abiotic factors
What is an ecosystem?
Coastal southern California
What is a Chaparral or Mediterranean?
plants add water to the atmosphere
What is evapotranspiration?
the process of increased decomposition in aquatic systems, sometimes enhanced by increased nutrients
What is eutrophication?
Another name for secondary consumers
What are carnivores?
Examples include deserts and tundras
What are biomes?
The Serengeti in Africa
What is a savannah?
The bacteria that take nitrogen out of the atmosphere
What are nitrogen-fixing bacteria or cyanobacteria?
The most productive aquatic ecosystem
What are coral reefs?
The products of photosynthesis
What are sugar and O2?