Biology Ecology Crossword Puzzle

QUESTIONS LIST: population : group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area, decomposers : bacteria and fungi that break down materials, bioticfactor : any living part of the environment with which an organism might interact, ecological pyramid : illustration of the relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each trophic level of a food web or food chain, herbivore : organism that only eats plants, heterotroph : organisms that cannot directly harness energy from the sun. these organisms have to ingest energy, biome : a group of ecosystems that share similar climates and organisms, trophic level : each step in a food chain or food web, nitrogen fixation : process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can use, biomass : total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level, denitrification : process by which bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas, phytoplankton : floating algae that go thru photosynthesis, carnivore : organisms that kill and eat other organisms, autotroph : organism that captures energy from sunlight and converts it into forms of energy the organism can use, ecology : the study of organisms and how they interact with each other and their environment, abiotic factor : physical or nonliving factor that shapes an ecosystem, food web : network of complex interactions formed by feeding relationships, community : assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area, biosphere : area of the earth that consists of all living things, food chain : series of steps in an ecosystem in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten, omnivore : organism that eats both plants and animals