The Biosphere Crossword Puzzle

QUESTIONS LIST:

• food web: feeding relationships among various organisms in an ecosystem.
• biosphere: combined portions of earth in which all life exists.
• denitrification: soil bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas in order to release nitrogen gas into the atmosphere.
• ecosystem: collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their non living, or physical, environment.
• trophic level: each step in a food chain or food web.
• biome: group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities.
• species: a group of organisms so similar to on another that they can breed and produce fertile offspring.
• community: assemblages of different populations that live together in a defined area.
• nutrient: all chemical substances that an organism needs to sustain life.
• biomass: total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level.
• chemo synthesis: process in which organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates.
• evaporation: process in which water changes from liquid form to atmospheric gas.
• limiting nutrient: when an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient that is scarce or cycles very slowly.
• ecology: the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
• autotroph: capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use that energy to produce food; another term for producer.
• decomposer: break down organic matter. fungi, bacteria, & insects.
• transpiration: process in which water evaporates through the leaves of a plant.
• food chain: a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating or being eaten.
• detrivore: organisms that feed on plant and animal remains and other dead matter
• population: groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area.