Across
- 2. – The ability to maintain ecological balance by avoiding the depletion of natural resources
- 4. Cycle – The process by which carbon is exchanged between the atmosphere, plants, animals, and the environment.
- 8. – An organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food.
- 11. Chain – A series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food (e.g., producer → primary consumer → secondary consumer → tertiary consumer).
- 13. Web – A more complex system of interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.
- 14. Impact – The influence humans have on ecosystems, including pollution, deforestation, and climate change.
- 15. – The protection and preservation of natural environments and biodiversity.
- 17. Cycle – The process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms and moved through ecosystems, often involving nitrogen-fixing bacteria, decomposers, and plants.
- 18. of Biomass – A graphical representation of the relative amount of living biomass at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
- 19. – Organisms (usually plants or algae) that produce their own food through photosynthesis and form the base of a food chain.
- 21. – The specific environment in which an organism lives.
- 22. – Organisms that are hunted and eaten by predators.
- 23. Warming – The long-term rise in Earth's average temperature due to increased levels of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.
- 24. – The process by which organisms break down glucose to release energy for growth, movement, and other life processes.
- 25. Cycle – The movement of nutrients (such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus) through the environment, from producers to consumers and decomposers and back into the soil or atmosphere.
Down
- 1. – Organisms that eat other animals.
- 3. – Organisms that consume other organisms for energy. They can be primary (herbivores), secondary (carnivores), or tertiary consumers.
- 5. – Organisms (such as bacteria and fungi) that break down dead organic matter and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
- 6. – The process by which plants and algae use sunlight to synthesize food (glucose) from carbon dioxide and water, producing oxygen as a byproduct.
- 7. – Organisms that eat plants.
- 9. – A community of living organisms interacting with their physical environment.
- 10. Levels – The levels in a food chain or food web, representing different positions in the flow of energy (e.g., producers are at the first trophic level, primary consumers at the second, etc.).
- 12. Transfer – The movement of energy through an ecosystem, from producers to consumers and decomposers, typically represented as energy pyramids.
- 16. – Organisms that eat both plants and animals.
- 19. – The introduction of harmful substances or contaminants into the environment.
- 20. – The variety and variability of life forms in an ecosystem.