Glossar

Proportional distribution of photosyntetic products or newly acquired nutrients among different organs or functions in a plant

Alternative system state, each of which is plausible in a particular environment

• Incorporation of an inorganic resource (e.g., CO2 or NH4(+) into organic compounds)

• transfer of digested food from the intestine to the bloodstream of an animal

Organism that produces organic matter from CO2 and environmental energy rather than by consuming organic matter produced by other organisms. Most autotrophs produce organic matter by photosynthesis; synonymous with primary producer

Photosynthetic pathway in which CO2 is initially fixed by Rubisco, producing three-carbon acids

Photosynthetic pathway in which CO2 is initially fixed by PEP carboxylase during the day, producing four-carbon acids.

Photosynthetic pathway in which stomates open and carbon is fixed at night into four-cabon acids. During the day stomates close, C4 acids are decarboxylated, and CO2 is fixed by C3 photosynthesis.

Ecological System consiting of all the organisms in an area and the physical environment with which they interact

Method of estimating flux of energy and materials (.e.g., water vapor and CO2) between the ecosystem and the atmosphere by measuring their transfer in eddies of air

Process by which some species make the environment more favorable for the growth of other species

Flow of energy or materials from one pool to another

organism that consumes organic matter produced by other organisms rather than producing organic matter from CO2 and environmental energy. Hetertrophs include decomposers, consumers and parasites.

Removal of inorganic nutrients from the available pool by microbial uptake and chemical fixation

Conversion of carbon and nutrients from organic to inorganic forms due to the breakdown of litter and soil organic matter.

Conversion of dissolved organic nitrogen to ammonium; synonymous with ammonification

• Conversion of di-nitrogen gas to ammonium

Binding of phosphorus in soils by strong chemical bonds

• Production of CO2 due to the oxygenation reaction catalyzed by Rubisco

• best viewed as a process that recovers much of the products of the oxygenase activity of Rubisco

Part of a system (e.g. Plant, landscape or climate system) that shows a net export of a compound

• top down effect of predators on the biomass of organisms at lower trophic levels; results in alternation of high and low biomass of organisms in successive trophic levels

proportion of production of prey that is converted to production of consumers at the next trophic level

organisms that obtain their energy with the same number of steps removed from plants or detritus

difference in actual vapor pressure and the vapor pressure in air of the same temperature and pressure that is saturated with water vapor; loosely used to describe the difference in vapor pressure in air immediately adjacent to an evaporating surface and the bulk atmosphere, although strictly speaking the air masses are at different temperatures