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Energy Flow
Water cycle
Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen cycle
Miscellaneous
100
The ultimate source of energy that fuels most life on planet Earth.
What is the sun
100
The process of cooling of water vapor in the atmosphere that leads to cloud formation.
What is condensation
100
The mechanism used by plants that pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (along with water and solar energy) and converts it into energy rich organic compounds.
What is photosynthesis
100
The percentage of nitrogen gas in the atmosphere.
What is 78%
100
The position that an organism occupies in a food chain, what it eats and what eats it.
What is a trophic level
200
Two types of organisms that rely on other organisms for their source of energy in organic compounds.
What are consumers and decomposers
200
Example are snow, rain, hail and sleet
What is precipitation
200
Formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years.
What are fossil fuels
200
The conversion by soil bacteria of atmospheric nitrogen into usable nitrogen for living organisms
What is nitrogen fixation
200
The triangular diagram that shows the flow of energy through trophic levels within an ecosystem.
What is an energy pyramid
300
Organisms that can convert an inorganic source of energy into organic compounds that serve as food energy for other organisms in ecosystems.
What are producers
300
Ground water
What is the water that has fallen to the ground through precipitation that percolates into the ground.
300
Carried out by plants and animals, a process the allows living organisms to break down food and obtain energy stored in food while releasing carbon waste as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
What is cell respiration
300
The conversion of ammonia formed by nitrogen fixation into nitrates that can be absorbed and used by plants to make protein.
What is nitrification
300
A term used to describe all of the organic matter, plant and animal life, present on planet Earth
What is biomass
400
The trophic level of the energy pyramid at which carnivores feed.
What is the third trophic level
400
The water cycle is driven by ____________.
What is solar heating that causes evaporation
400
The major role of the oceans in the carbon cycle.
What is to serve as a carbon sink for the dissolving of excess carbon dioxide in ocean waters. This warms ocean waters, affecting aquatic habitat such as coral reefs and affecting global climate.
400
Occurs when plants abosrb or take up ammonia and/or nitrates into their root structure
What is assimilation
400
The ten percent rule.
What is the amount of energy at one trophic level that is energy available to the next trophic level.
500
Energy flows in one direction, from the sun, through living organisms and eventually into the environment as _________
What is heat
500
The terms that apply to the (1) the trickling of water into soil to be available for uptake by plants and (2) the evaporative loss of water by plant leaves, stems and flowers.
What are percolation and transpiration
500
This process used by industry, automobiles, etc. releases an abundance of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
What is combustion
500
Some soil bacteria can release nitrogen gas back into the atmosphere by converting nitrate into nitrogen gas in a process called _____________.
What is denitrification
500
The major difference between the flow of nutrients and the flow of energy in ecosystems
What is nutrients cycle through ecosystems, in and out of living things, while energy is a one way flow from an inorganic source like the sun through living organisms and out into the environment as heat.