Across
- 2. Natural processes that recycle nutrients in various chemical forms from the nonliving environment to living organisms and then back to the nonliving environment
- 5. Series of organisms in which each eats or decomposes the preceding one
- 6. Consumer organism that feeds on detritus, parts of dead organisms, and castoff fragments and wastes of living organisms
- 9. Cyclic movement of carbon in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
- 11. Complex process that occurs in the cells of most living organisms, in which nutrient organic molecules such as glucose (C6H12O6) combine with oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy
- 15. Cyclic movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
- 16. Organism that feeds only on primary consumers
- 18. Rate at which all the plants in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy; equal to the difference between the rate at which the plants in an ecosystem produce useful chemical energy (gross primary productivity) and the rate at which they use some of that energy through cellular respiration
- 19. Animal that can use both plants and other animals as food sources
- 20. Form of cellular respiration in which some decomposers get the energy they need through the breakdown of glucose (or other nutrients) in the absence of oxygen.
- 24. Plant–eating organism
- 27. Zone of the earth where life is found
- 28. Complex process that takes place in cells of green plants. Radiant energy from the sun is used to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) to produce oxygen (O2), carbohydrates (such as glucose, C6H12O6), and other nutrient molecules
- 30. Natural effect that releases heat in the atmosphere near the earth's surface
- 38. Cyclic movement of nitrogen in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
- 39. nonliving
- 41. Organism that feeds on some or all parts of plants (herbivore) or on other producers
- 42. Cyclic movement of sulfur in various chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment
- 43. Innermost layer of the atmosphere. It contains about 75% of the mass of earth’s air and extends about 17 kilometers (11 miles) above sea level
- 44. Second layer of the atmosphere, extending about 17–48 kilometers (11–30 miles) above the earth’s surface. It contains small amounts of gaseous ozone (O3), which filters out about 95% of the incoming harmful ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun
Down
- 1. any form of life
- 3. Animals that feed on animal–eating animals
- 4. Organism that digests parts of dead organisms, and cast–off fragments and wastes of living organisms by breaking down the complex organic molecules in those materials into simpler inorganic compounds and then absorbing the soluble nutrients
- 7. Gases in the earth’s lower atmosphere (troposphere) that cause the greenhouse effect
- 8. Organism that uses solar energy (green plants) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture the organic compounds it needs as nutrients from simple inorganic compounds obtained from its environment
- 10. Organic matter produced by plants and other photosynthetic producers
- 12. Whole mass of air surrounding the earth
- 13. Biogeochemical cycle that collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed supply of water from the environment to living organisms and then back to the environment
- 14. Rate at which an ecosystem’s producers capture and store a given amount of chemical energy as biomass in a given length of time
- 17. Process in which certain organisms (mostly specialized bacteria) extract inorganic compounds from their environment and convert them into organic nutrient compounds without the presence of sunlight
- 21. Natural processes that recycle nutrients in various chemical forms from the nonliving environment to living organisms and then back to the nonliving environment
- 22. Diagram representing the flow of energy through each trophic level in a food chain or food web
- 23. Organism that cannot synthesize the organic nutrients it needs and gets its organic nutrients by feeding on the tissues of producers or of other consumers
- 25. All organisms that are the same number of energy transfers away from the original source of energy (for example, sunlight) that enters an ecosystem
- 26. Earth’s liquid water (oceans, lakes, other bodies of surface water, and underground water), frozen water (polar ice caps, floating ice caps, and ice in soil, known as permafrost), and water vapor in the atmosphere
- 28. Group of individual organisms of the same species living in a particular area
- 29. Organism that cannot synthesize the organic nutrients it needs and gets its organic nutrients by feeding on the tissues of producers or of other consumers
- 31. Complex process that occurs in the cells of most living organisms, in which nutrient organic molecules such as glucose (C6H12O6) combine with oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy.
- 32. One or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment
- 33. Biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment
- 34. Complex network of many interconnected food chains and feeding relationships
- 35. Populations of all species living and interacting in an area at a particular time
- 36. Animal that feeds on other animals
- 37. Organism that uses solar energy (green plants) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture the organic compounds it needs as nutrients from simple inorganic compounds obtained from its environment
- 40. living organisms