Glossary

• Biomass = matter from recently living organisms which is used for bioenergy production
• Producers = organisms that are able to make their own food using energy from the Sun
• Consumers = organisms that must eat plants and/or animals to get energy
• Primary consumer = organisms that eat the producers
• Secondary consumer = organisms that eat the primary consumers
• Tertiary consumer = organisms that eat the secondary consumers
• Saprobionts = organisms that digest their food externally and then absorb the products
• Food chain = linear network of links between organisms that consumer each other
• Trophic level = position an organism occupies in a food web
• Food web = interconnection of multiple food chains in a single ecosystem
• Calorimetry = process of measuring the amount of heat released/absorbed in a reaction
• Gross primary productivity = rate at which plants are able to store chemical energy via photosynthesis
• Net primary productivity = rate at which all autotrophs in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy
• Saprobiontic microorganisms = microorganisms that digest their food externally and then absorb the products
• Ammonification = process of converting natural nitrogen compounds into ammonia
• Nitrification = oxidation of ammonia to nitrate via the intermediary nitrite
• Nitrogen fixation = chemical process by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into organic compounds
• Denitrification = process where nitrate is reduced and produces molecular nitrogen
• Oxidation reaction = substance reacting with oxygen which produces an oxide
• Aerobic = requiring oxygen
• Anaerobic = requiring an absence of oxygen
• Natural fertilisers = fertilisers that are naturally produces
• Artificial fertilisers = prepared from rock and minerals and are formed by physical and chemical processes
• Leaching = solute becomes detached/extracted from its carrier substance by a solvent
• Eutrophication = nutrients accumulate in a body of water resulting in the increased growth of microorganisms