Katelyn Stoskus
Chapter 3 Vocab
APES 6
September 5th, 2012
Cells: smallest and most fundamental structural and functional units of life.
Cell Theory: the idea that all living things are composed of cells.
Eukaryotic Cell: surrounded by a membrane and has a nucleus as well other internal parts such as
organelles, which are also surrounded by membranes. (organisms)
Prokaryotic Cell: surrounded by a membrane with no nucleus or other internal parts. (bacteria)
Nucleus: membrane bounded structure containing genetic material in the form of DNA.
Species: set of individuals that can mate and produce fertile offspring.
Ecology: study of how organisms interact with their livings (biotic) environment of other organisms
and their nonliving (abiotic) environment. (GREEK! oikos: house or place to live, logos: study of)
Population: group of individuals of the same species that live in the same place at the same time.
Genetic diversity: in populations when individuals vary slightly in their genetic makeup.
Habitat: the place where a population or an individual usually lives.
Biological Community: all the populations of different species that live in a particular place.
Ecosystem: community of different species interacting with one another and their nonliving
environment.
Biosphere: parts of the earth’s air, water, and soil where life is found. Where all organisms exist.
Atmosphere: thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earth’s surface.
Troposphere: inner layer of the atmosphere (nitrogen 78%, oxygen 21%) 17 miles above sea level
Stratosphere: next layer of the atmosphere. 17-50 miles above sea level
Hydrosphere: consists of all of the water on or near the earth’s surface. Liquid, ice, permafrost,
vapor.
Geosphere: the earth’s intensely hot core, and thick mantle composed of mostly rock, and a thin
outer crust. Upper portion contains non-renewable and renewable resources.
Greenhouse Gases: water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. (1%)
Core: thick mantle composed of rock.
Mantle: in between the crust and the core, part of the geosphere.
Crust: part of the geosphere.
Biomes: large regions such as forests, deserts, and grasslands with distinct climates and certain
species adapted to them.
Aquatic Life Zones: watery parts of the biosphere, each containing numerous ecosystems.
Freshwater Life Zones: lakes and streams. (2%)
Marine Life Zones: oceans and coral reefs and coastal estuaries. (71%)
One Way Flow of High Quality Energy: from the sun, through living things in their feeding
interactions, into the environment as low quality energy.
Cycling of Matter (nutrients): atoms, ions, and compounds needed for survival by living organisms.
Gravity: allows the planet to hold onto its atmosphere and helps enable the movement and cycling of
chemicals through the air, water, soil, and organisms.
Natural Greenhouse Effect: keeps the earth warm and habitable through vibrating gaseous
molecules.
Abiotic: nonliving components such as water, air, nutrients, solar energy and heat.
Biotic: living and once living biological components like plants, animals and microbes.
Range of Tolerance: range of conditions an organism can survive in.
Limiting Factors: variety of abiotic factors that can affect the number of organism in a population.
Limiting Factor Principle: too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a
population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance.
Dissolved Oxygen Content: solubility of oxygen gas in water.
Salinity: amounts of various inorganic minerals or salts in a given volume of water.
Trophic level: feeding level.
Producers: make the nutrients they need from compounds and energy obtained from their
environment.
Autotrophs: self feeders.
Phytoplankton: mostly microscopic organisms that float or drift in the water.
Photosynthesis: system by which producers capture sunlight to produce energy-rich carbohydrates.
Chemosynthesis: converting simple inorganic compounds from their environment into more
complex nutrient compounds without using sunlight.
Hydrothermal vents: extremely hot water geyser on the ocean floor.
Geothermal energy: thermal energy made and stored in the earth.
Consumers: cannot produce the nutrients they need though photosynthesis or other processes and
must obtain their nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains.
Heterotrophs: other-feeders.
Primary consumers: animals that eat producers.
Herbivores: plant eaters.
Secondary consumers: animals that feed on flesh of herbivores.
Carnivores: meat eaters.
Third or Higher Level Consumers: carnivores that eat other carnivores.
Omnivores: play dual roles and feed on both plants and animals.
Decomposers: certain type of bacteria and fungi, are consumers that release nutrients from the dead
bodies of plants and animals and return them to the soil, water, and air for reuse of producers.
Detritus Feeders (detritivores): feed on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms called detritus.
Detritus: debris.
Aerobic Respiration: uses oxygen to convert glucose back to carbon dioxide and water.
Anaerobic Respiration (Fermentation): breaking down glucose in the absence of oxygen and the end
product is methane gas, ethyl alcohol and hydrogen sulfide.
One Way Energy Flow: from the sun through the ecosystems and biosphere.
Nutrient Cycling: movement of organic and inorganic matter back to living matter.
Food Chain: sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of food or energy for the next.
Food Web: complex network of interconnected food chains
Biomass: dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organisms
Ecological Efficiency: percentage of usable chemical energy transferred as biomass from one trophic
level to the next
Pyramid of Energy Flow: Diagram representing the flow of energy through each trophic level in a
food chain or web.
Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): rate at which an ecosystem’s producers convert solar energy into
chemical energy as biomass found in their tissue.
Net Primary Productivity (NPP): rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store
chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of this stored chemical energy through
aerobic respiration.
*The planet’s NPP ultimately limits the number of consumers that can survive on the earth*
Upwelling: water moving up from the depths toward the surface.
Biogeochemical Cycles or Nutrient Cycles: elements and compounds that make up nutrients move
continually through air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms in ecosystems and in the biosphere.
Reservoirs: underground deposits such as oceans and other waters and underground deposits.
Hydrologic Cycle (Water Cycle): collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed water supply.
Evaporation: liquid to vapor
Precipitation: vapor to liquid
Transpiration: water that reaches the atmosphere evaporates from the surfaces of plants.
Surface Runoff: precipitation falling on terrestrial ecosystems which flows into streams and lakes,
eventually becoming a part of the water cycle again.
Glaciers: large body of ice.
Aquifers: precipitation that sinks through soil and permeable rock formations to underground layers
of rock, sand, and gravel.
Groundwater: stored aquifers.
Carbon Cycle: Cyclic movement of carbon in different chemical forms from the environment to
organisms then back to the environment
Fossil Fuels: fuels formed by processes such as anaerobic decomposition .
Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria: specialized bacteria that complete the nitrogen cycle.
Nitrogen Cycle: nitrogen fixation, nitrification, ammonification and denitrification.
Nitrogen Fixation: specialized bacteria combine gaseous N2 with hydrogen to make ammonia.
Nitrification: specialized soil bacteria convert most of the NH3 and NH4+ in soil to nitrate ions.
Nitrate Ions: NO3- easily taken up by the roots of plants.
Ammonification: specialized decomposer bacteria convert detritus into simpler nitrogen-containing
inorganic compounds such as ammonium ions NH4+.
Denitrification: specialized bacteria in waterlogged soil and in the bottom sediments of lakes, oceans,
swamps, and bogs convert NH3 and NH4+ back into nitrite and nitrate ions and then into nitrogen
gas N2 and nitrous oxide gas N2O.
Acid Rain: damaging acid deposition.
Phosphorus Cycle: phosphorus circulating through water, the earth’s crust, and living organisms.
Limiting Factor: factor that can limit growth.
Sulfur Cycle: sulfur circulating in the biosphere.
Acid Decomposition: droplets of sulfuric acid that fall onto the earth.
Field Research (Muddy-Boots Biology): observing and measuring the structure of natural ecosystems
and what happens in them.
The Habitable Planet: multimedia course for high school teachers and adult learners interested in
studying environmental science.
Remote Sensing: scan and collect data on the earth’s surface.
Geographic Information System (GIS) Software: used to capture, store, analyze, and display
geographically or spatially based information.
Laboratory Research: used to set up, observe, and make measurements of model ecosystems and
populations under laboratory conditions.
Baseline Data: beginning measurements.