Watershed Wonders
This term describes the area of land where all the water that falls in it drains off to a common outlet.
What is a watershed?
Humans depend on the ocean for this gas, as phytoplankton produce about 50% of the Earth's supply.
What is oxygen?
These organisms sit at the very bottom of the energy pyramid and get their energy from the sun.
What are producers (or autotrophs)?
Unlike matter, which is recycled, energy is a "one-way street" that begins with this celestial object.
What is the Sun?
An animal that eats a primary consumer is known by this specific trophic title.
What is a secondary consumer?
This occurs when rainwater washes oil, trash, or fertilizer off the land and into local streams.
What is runoff?
This term describes catching fish at a rate faster than they can reproduce, threatening ocean food webs.
What is overfishing?
This is the percentage of energy that is actually passed up from one trophic level to the next.
What is 10 percent?
These organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, are responsible for returning nutrients from dead matter back to the soil.
What are decomposers?
Turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth is a simple way humans can do this to protect our water supply.
What is conserve (or conservation)?
This is the process where excess nutrients like nitrogen cause a rapid growth of algae, leading to "dead zones" in the water.
What is eutrophication or an Algal bloom?
These tiny plastic particles, often from synthetic clothing or degraded trash, are frequently ingested by marine life.
What are microplastics?
If a producer level has 10,000 kcal of energy, this is the amount of energy available to the primary consumers.
What is 1,000 kcal?
While energy is lost as heat, these "building blocks" of life are used over and over again in the biosphere.
What are nutrients (or matter)?
This term refers to using resources in a way that meets our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
What is sustainability?
This underground layer of rock or sediment holds water and can be contaminated if chemicals seep through the soil.
What is an aquifer?
This type of disaster occurs when liquid petroleum is released into the ocean, coating birds' feathers and blocking sunlight.
What is an oil spill?
Most of the energy lost between trophic levels is released into the environment in this form.
What is heat?
In a balanced ecosystem, plants provide this gas for animals, and animals provide CO2 for plants.
What is oxygen?
Removing these animals at the top of the food chain can cause the population of herbivores to grow too large, damaging the ecosystem.
What are top predators?
Because water cannot soak into concrete or asphalt, building these types of surfaces increases the amount of this in a watershed.
What is runoff?
Artificial reefs are often built by humans to restore these underwater structures that protect coastlines and host high biodiversity.
What are coral reefs?
If a tertiary consumer has 5 kcal of energy available, the producer level originally started with this many kcal.
What is 5,000 kcal?
This law of science states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed, explaining why nutrients must be recycled.
What is the Law of Conservation of Mass?
Rain gardens help rainwater soak into the soil, which helps refill this important source of fresh water stored underground.
What is groundwater?