The Nonliving Environment 33
Section 1 Abiotic Factors
A. Living or once-living environmental features are called biotic factors; ________________
factors are nonliving physical features.
B. Atmosphere—the ____________ that surrounds Earth
C. ______________—the major ingredient of the fluid inside the cells of all organisms
D. _____________—a mixture of mineral and rock particles, the remains of dead organisms,
water, and air
E. _________________—the source of energy for most life on Earth
F. Most organisms’ body _____________________ should stay within the range of 0°C to
50°C for survival.
1. Temperature is affected by _________________; areas closer to the equator are
warmer than areas farther from the equator.
2. __________________—distance above sea level that affects temperature, wind,
and soil
G. Climate—an area’s average ________________ conditions over time, including temperature,
precipitation, and wind
1. For most living things, ____________________ and ______________________
are the two most important components of climate.
2. Heat energy from the Sun creates air currents called ______________
Section 2 Cycles in Nature
A. Earth’s biosphere contains a fixed amount of water, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and other
materials that ______________ through the environment and are reused by different
organisms.
B. Water cycle—how water moves from Earth’s surface to the ___________________ and
back to the surface again
1. Evaporation—when liquid water changes into water ______________ and enters
the atmosphere
2. _____________________—the process of changing water from a gas to a liquiddividual Needs
Note-taking
The Nonliving Environment
3. When water drops become large and heavy enough, they fall to the ground as rain
or other ______________________.
C. _______________________—the transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil,
to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere
1. Nitrogen fixation—a process in which some types of soil _________________ can
form the nitrogen compounds that plants need
2. Farmers replace nitrogen in the soil by growing nitrogen-fixing crops or using
____________________ that contain nitrogen compounds that plants need for growth.
D. _____________________—how carbon molecules move between the living and nonliving
world
1. Producers remove ___________________________ from the air during
photosynthesis.
2. ____________________—the chemical process that provides energy for cells
Section 3 Energy Flow
A. Matter can be _________________ over and over again, but energy is
__________________ from one form to another.
1. During ________________________ producers convert light energy to chemical
energy.
2. _______________________—the production of energy-rich nutrient molecules
from chemicals
B. Energy stored in the molecules of one organism is transferred to another when one organism
becomes _____________ for another organism.
1. ____________________—a simple way of showing how matter and energy pass from
one organism to another
2. Food web—shows all the possible feeding ______________________ among the
organisms in a community
C. _______________________—shows the amount of energy available at each feeding level
in an ecosystem