Matter and Energy in Ecosystems

Air:  the invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth, a mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen.

Calcium:  an essential mineral that plays a vital role in maintaining strong bones, teeth, and other bodily functions

Carbon:  chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6

Carbon Dioxide:  an important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas

Carnivores:  animals that primarily eat the flesh of other animals

Chemical Energy:  energy of chemical substances that is released when the substances undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances

Consumers:  organisms that cannot produce their own food and must eat other organisms (plants or animals) to obtain energy

Cycle:  the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and the nitrogen cycle

Decomposers:  organisms that break down dead organisms and release the nutrients from the dead matter into the environment around them.

Decrease:  to make something smaller or to become smaller

Detritvores:  an animal which feeds on dead organic material, especially plant detritus

Earth:  third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life

Ecosystem:  a community of living organisms (biotic factors) interacting with their non-living physical environment (abiotic factors) within a specific area, where each element plays a role in the flow of energy and nutrient cycles

Energy:  the capacity to perform work, and it can be transferred to a physical system or body

Energy transformation:  the process of changing energy from one form to another

Environment:  the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

Flow:  go from one place to another in a steady stream, typically in large numbers

Food:  any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth.

Food chain:  a linear sequence of organisms that shows how energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem

Food web:  a diagram that shows how organisms in an ecological community are connected by what they eat

Heat energy:   the transfer of energy from a high-temperature body to a lower-temperature one

Herbivores:  animals that eat only plants

Hydrogen:  chemical element with symbol H and atomic number 1

Increase:  become or make greater in size, amount, intensity, or degree.

Light Energy:  a type of kinetic energy that travels in waves and is a form of electromagnetic radiation

Matter:  anything that occupies space and has mass

Mechanical energy:  the energy an object has due to its position or motion

Nitrogen:  a chemical element; it has symbol N and atomic number 7

Omnivores:  an animal or person that eats food of both plant and animal origin.

Oxygen:  colorless, odorless gas, represented by the symbol "O", which is a vital element for life

Phosphorus:  a mineral that naturally occurs in many foods and is also available as a supplement

Photosynthesis:  the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and sugar (glucose)

Producers:  an organism that produces organic compounds from simple substances such as water and carbon dioxide; an autotroph.

Sulfur:  nonmetallic chemical element belonging to the oxygen group

Sun:   the star at the center of the Solar System

Sustain:  strengthen or support physically or mentally

Transform:  make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of

Water:  a colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.