Affiliate Marketing Secrets

Thermal Energy: Random kinetic energy possessed by objects in a material at finite temperature.
Photosynthesis: The process by which plants and other photoautotroph generate carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide, water, and light energy in chloroplasts
Producer: A producer is anything that can make its own food, like plants. Producers are usually the start of the food chain.
Cellular Respiration: The series of metabolic processes by which living cells produce energy through the oxidation of organic substances.
Consumer: animals or plants that cannot make their own food. They must eat or consume plants and animals for food
Ecological Niche: a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other
Food Chain: A succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and in turn is preyed upon by a higher member.
Trophic Level: A group of organisms that occupy the same position in a food chain.
Food Web: A complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community
Ecological pyramid: A pyramid-shaped diagram representing quantitatively the numbers of organisms, energy relationships, and biomass of an ecosystem; numbers are high for the lowest trophic levels (plants) and low for the highest trophic level (carnivores).
Biomass: The total mass of living matter within a given unit of environmental area
Biogeochemical Cycle: The chemical interactions that exist between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.
Water Cycle: The cycle of evaporation and condensation that controls the distribution of the earth’s water as it evaporates from bodies of water, condenses, precipitates, and returns to those bodies of water. Also called hydrologic cycle.
Carbon Cycle: The combined processes, including photosynthesis, decomposition, and respiration, by which carbon as a component of various compounds cycles between its major reservoirs-the atmosphere, oceans, and living organisms.
Nitrogen Cycle: A chain of thermonuclear reactions in which nitrogen isotopes are formed in intermediate stages and carbon acts essentially as a catalyst to convert four hydrogen atoms into one helium atom with the emission of two positrons. The entire sequence is thought to generate significant amounts of energy in the sun and certain other stars
Limiting Factors: The success of an organism is limited by the presence or absence of the factors necessary for survival. Often growth of a population is limited by an apparently minor factor in the environment, such as the presence of trace elements in the soil.
Tolerance Range: each ecosystems population’s ability to adjust to variations in its physical and chemical environment
Carrying Capacity: The maximum number of individuals that a given environment can support without detrimental effects
Biome: A major regional or global biotic community, such as a grassland or desert, characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate.
Succession: The act or process of following in order or sequence.
Biodiversity: The variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.
Invasive Species: Any species that has been introduced to an environment where it is not native, and that has since become a nuisance through rapid spread and increase in numbers, often to the detriment of native species.
Pollution: The act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances
Monoculture: A single, homogeneous culture without diversity or dissension.
Pest: An injurious plant or animal, especially one harmful to humans.
Leaching: To remove soluble or other constituents from by the action of a percolating liquid.
Pesticide: A chemical used to kill pests, especially insects

I have to do a AP Bio project on an ecosystem, in this case a beach. The problem is, I am having a hard time finding essential information (species of fungi, plants and animals present, temperatures, habitats, niches, for beaches close to where I live. The closest one that I found was Point Reyes National Park. Ideas and corresponding websites would be very helpful, since I need this information ASAP.

Even before humans entered the scene, many species of plants and animals were extinct and have been going extinct ever since the first organisms evolved on Earth. New ones constantly are evolving to fill niches and adapt to changing environments. Why are we even concerned about endangered species? If one species goes extinct won’t another replace it? Do we need all of these species anyway? Should humans have the right to inhabit anyplace we want to without worrying about which little animal/plan/fungus we trample?