Matter and Energy in Ecosystems Vocab

a series of chemical reactions that convert light energy, water, and carbon dioxide into the food-energy molecule glucose and give off oxygen.

• photosynthesis

• respiration

• fermentation

• decomposition

an organism that uses an outside energy source, such as the Sun, and produces its own food.

• consumer

• decomposer

• producer

• scavenger

a model of energy transfer that can show how the food chains in a community are interconnected.

• food web

• food chain

• energy pyramid

• trophic level

a process by which glucose, a sugar, is broken down into smaller molecules.

• glycolysis

• gluconeogenesis

• fermentation

• oxidative phosphorylation

the process by which a gas changes to a liquid.

• evaporation

• sublimation

• condensation

• precipitation

the process of a liquid changing to a gas at the surface of the liquid.

• condensation

• evaporation

• sublimation

• precipitation

all the living things and nonliving things in a given area.

• ecosystem

• habitat

• community

• biosphere

the process that changes atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen compounds that are usable by living things.

• nitrogen fixation

• photosynthesis

• cellular respiration

• decomposition

an organism that cannot make its own food and gets energy by eating other organisms.

• producer

• decomposer

• consumer

• autotroph

an organism that consumes the bodies of dead organisms and wastes produced by living organisms.

• herbivore

• carnivore

• detritivore

• omnivore