Producer Consumer Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore An organism that can make its own food Consumer An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms Herbivore A consumer that eats only plants Carnivore A consumer that eats only animals Omnivore A consumer that eats both plants and animals

Scavenger Decomposer Food Chain Food Web Energy Pyramid A carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms Decomposer An organism that breaks down chemicals from waste and dead organisms returning important minerals to the soil Food Chain A series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy Food Web The pattern of overlapping food chains in an ecosystem Energy Pyramid A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web

Water Cycle Evaporation Condensation Precipitation Nitrogen Fixation The continuous process by which water moves from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere and back Evaporation The process by which molecules of a liquid absorb energy and change to a gas Condensation The process by which a gas changes to a liquid Precipitation Snow, rain, sleet or hail Nitrogen Fixation The process of changing free nitrogen gas into a usable form

Continental Drift Dispersal Exotic Species Climate Biogeography The study of where organisms live Continental Drift The very slow movement of continents Dispersal The movement of an organism from one place to another Exotic Species Species that are carried to a new location by people Climate The typical weather pattern in an area over a long period of time

Biome Canopy Understory Desert Grassland A group of land ecosystems with similar climates and organisms Canopy A leafy roof formed by tall trees Understory A layer of shorter plants that grow in the shade of a forest canopy Desert An area that receives less than 25 centimeters of precipitation a year Grassland An area populated by grasses and other non woody plants that get between 25-75 centimeters of precipitation a year

Savanna Deciduous Tree Coniferous Tree Tundra Permafrost A grassland close to the equator that receives as much as 120 centimeters of rain a year Deciduous Tree A tree that sheds its leaves and grows new ones each year Coniferous Tree A tree that produces its seeds in cones and has needle shaped leaves Tundra An extremely cold, dry biome Permafrost Soil that is frozen all year

Estuary Intertidal Zone Neritic Zone A habitat where fresh water of a river meets salt water of an ocean Intertidal Zone The area between the highest high tide line and the lowest low tide line Neritic Zone The area of shallow ocean water over the continental shelf