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| Network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information. |
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| The rock and sediment beneath our feet; the planet’s uppermost mantle and crust |
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| Air surrounding our planet |
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| All living and nonliving organisms on the planet |
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| Circular process in which a system's output can serve as an input to the same system |
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| Output that results from a system moving in one direction acts as imput that moves the system in the other direction |
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| When processes move in opposing directions at equivalent rates so that their effects balance out when in a system stabilized by negative feedback |
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| The tendency of a system to maintain relatively constant of stable internal conditions |
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| Driving a system further toward an extreme rather than stabilizing the system |
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| Area of land from which water drains into a river |
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| Geographic area that produces air pollutants likely to end up in a waterway |
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| Precipitation that flows over land and enters waterways |
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| Depletion of oxygen in water |
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| Over enrichment of nutrients that cause blooms of algae and increased production of organic matter which leads to ecosystem degradation |
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| All material in the universe that has mass and occupies space |
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| Study of types of matter and their interactions |
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| Law of Conservation of Matter |
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| Matter can be transformed but it cannot be created or destroyed |
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| Fundamental type of matter that is a chemical substance with a given set of properties that cannot be broken down into substances with other properties in chemical reactions |
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| Smallest units that maintain the chemical properties of the element |
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| Positively charges particles in an atom's nucleus |
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| Number of protons in an atom's nucleus |
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| Particles in the nuclei that lack electric charge |
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| Negatively charges particles that surround an atom's nucleus |
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| Element especially abundant in water |
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| Element especially abundant in air |
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| Element especially abundant in Earth's crust |
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| Element especially abundant in air |
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| Element especially abundant in living organisms |
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| Elements that organisms need to survive |
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| Atoms with differing numbers of neutrons |
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| Atoms that have gained or lost electrons and became electrically charged atoms or combinations of atoms |
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| Two or more atoms bonded together |
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| Formula used to indicate the type and number of atoms in a molecule |
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| Molecule composed of atoms from two ore more different elements |
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| One oxygen atom bonded to two hydrogen atoms |
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| Compound consisting of one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms |
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| Ions of differing charge bind with one another to form compounds |
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| Bonds that lack electrical charge and combine by "sharing" electrons |
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| Elements, molecules, and compounds that come together without chemically bonding |
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| Colorless gas produced primarily by anaerobic decomposition |
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| Molecule consisting of three atoms of oxygen |
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| Equal numbers of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions |
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| Concentration of hydrogen ions is greater than hydroxide ions |
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| Hydroxide ion concentration is higher than hydrogen ion concentration |
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| Scale that quantifies the acidity of basicity of a solution |
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| Carbon atoms joined by covalent bonds and may include other elements |
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| Compounds that lack carbon-carbon bonds |
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| Organic compound that contains only atoms of carbon and hydrogen |
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| Long chains of repeated molecules |
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| Long chains of organic molecules called, amino acids, that serve functions in living cells including structural support, energy storage, immune system functions, hormones, and enzymes |
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| Direct the production of proteins by acids composed of nucleotides,a sugar molecule, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base |
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| Regions of DNA that Code for particular proteins that perform particular functions |
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| Simple sugars and large molecules comprised of chemically bonded simple sugars |
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| Fuels living cells and serves as the base for complex carbohydrates |
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| Structural component of shells |
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| Most abundant organic compound on Earth found in the cell walls of plants |
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| Chemically diverse group of compounds that do not dissolve in water |
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| The most basic unit of organismal organization |
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| Intangible that can change the position, physical composition, and temperature of matter |
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| Potential energy held in the bonds between atoms |
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| First Law of Thermodynamics |
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| Energy can change from one form to another but it cannot be created or destroyed |
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| Second Law of Thermodynamics |
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Definition
| The nature of energy will change from a more ordered stat to a less ordered state if no force counteracts this tendency |
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| Organizers that use the sun's direct radiation to produce their own food- also called producers |
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| Process that converts the sun's light energy into chemical energy |
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| Cells organelles in autotrophs |
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| Chemical reactions from solar energy |
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| Light reactions that produce energy molecules which forms sugars |
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| Chemical energy created by photosynthesis |
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| Organisms that gain their energy by feeding on the tissues of other organisms- also called Consumers |
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| All living and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at a particular time |
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| Body of water where rivers flow into the ocean thus mixing fresh and salt water |
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| Conversion of solar energy to the energy of chemicals bonds |
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| Total amount of chemical energy produces by autotrophs |
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| Energy that remains after respiration |
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| The rate at which autotrophs convert energy to biomass |
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| Amount producers convert from solar energy to biomass |
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| Broad-scale approach to ecology |
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| Scientists who study the loss, protection, and restoration of biodiversity |
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| Simplified representation of a complicated natural process |
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| Practice of constructing and testing models that aim to explain and predict how ecological systems function |
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| Circulation of elements or molecules through the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere- also called the biogeochemical cycle |
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| Reservoir that releases more material than it accepts |
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| Reservoir that accepts more materials than it releases |
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| Rate at which materials move between reservoirs |
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| Collection of nutrients- also called pool |
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| Amount of time nutrients remain in each reservoir |
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| The flow of water in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms |
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| Water moving from surface water and moist soil to the atmosphere |
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| Release of water vapor into the atmosphere by plants through their leaves |
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| When water vapor condenses and falls as rain or snow |
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| The process in which water soaks down through soil and rock |
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| Underground reservoirs of water |
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| Water found beneath layers of soil |
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| Uppermost level of groundwater held in an aquifer |
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| The routes carbon atoms take through the environment |
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| The route nitrogen atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems |
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| Can be accomplished in two ways: by the intense energy of lightning strikes of by types of nitrogen fixing bacteria |
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| Bacteria that inhabit the top layer of soil |
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| Conversion of ammonium ions into nitrite ions then into nitrate ions |
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| Bacteria that converts nitrates in the soil or water into gas |
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| Release of nitrogen back into the atmosphere as gas |
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| Man-made discovery of how to fix nitrogen on massive scales |
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| Nutrient cycle consisting of the routes that phosphorus atoms take through the nested networks of environmental systems |
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| Largest reservoir in the phosphorus cycle |
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