Energy and Cycles

5. carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms
8. the transfer of water from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere
9. an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
10. the evaporation of water through minute pores in the leaves of plants
11. the source of all food in an ecosystem
12. when an organism excretes or dies, the nitrogen tissues is in the form of organic nitrogen
14. rain, snow, sleet or hail falls to the surface
17. the movement of water from the surface into the soil
20. loss or removal of nitrogen or nitrogen compounds
21. the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into a combined form
22. _____ cycle the biogeochemical process by which nitrogen circulates among the atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

1. consumers that only eat animals
2. organisms that break down wastes and dead organisms and return raw materials to the environment
3. carbon ______ a reservoir that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases
4. food _______ consists of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem
6. soil mantle of earth
7. consumers that eat only plants
9. carbon ______ biogeochemical process in which carbon is exchanged among the 5 spheres of earth: biosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere
13. the transition of water from a vapor state into a liquid state
15. food _______ a series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy
16. process that converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate
18. consumers that eat both plants and animals
19. rigid counterpart of earth’s crust and mantle