Grade 7 Science Vocabulary
Ecosystems, Energy & Biomes
How matter and energy move through living things, and how conditions in each biome affect the organisms that live there.
Ohio science standards in this unit
- 7.LS.1 · Matter & energy in living thingsEnergy flows and matter is transferred continuously from one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.
- 7.LS.2 · BiomesIn any particular biome, the number, growth and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.
Definitions are written in plain language to support WIDA's Standard 4 (Science) English Language Development standard.
Practice 49 words
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Focused practice sets
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Biome Dynamics
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Study guide
Matter & energy in living things (7.LS.1)
- photosynthesis
- How plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar and oxygen.
- consume
- To eat or use up.
- oxidize
- To combine with oxygen. Cells do this to food to release its energy.
- heat
- Thermal energy moving from a warmer object to a cooler one.
- chemical reaction
- A change in which substances turn into new substances.
- energy flow
- The path energy takes as it moves through a food chain or ecosystem.
- chlorophyll
- The green substance in plants that captures sunlight.
- cellular respiration
- How cells use oxygen to break down sugar and release energy.
- light energy
- Energy that travels as light, like sunlight.
- sugar polymer
- A long chain of sugar molecules joined together, like starch.
- starch
- A long chain of sugars that plants use to store energy.
- glucose
- A simple sugar that cells use for energy.
- environment
- Everything around a living thing.
- sustainability
- Using resources in a way that leaves enough for the future.
- ecosystem
- All the living and nonliving things in an area and how they interact.
- conservation of matter
- Matter is not created or destroyed; it only changes form.
- conservation of energy
- Energy is not created or destroyed; it only changes form or moves.
- energy pyramid
- A diagram that shows how energy decreases at each level of a food chain.
- chemical process
- A change that makes new substances, like digestion or burning.
- recycle
- To use materials again. In nature, matter is used again and again as it passes through living things and soil.
- organism
- Any living thing.
- decomposer
- An organism, like a fungus or bacterium, that breaks down dead things and returns nutrients to the soil.
- energy transfer
- When energy moves from one living thing or place to another.
- energy transformation
- When energy changes from one form to another, like light energy to chemical energy.
- biomass
- The total mass of living things in an area. It can also be burned as fuel.
- alternative energy sources
- Energy sources other than fossil fuels, like sun, wind, and water.
Biomes (7.LS.2)
- biome
- A large region with a certain climate and the plants and animals adapted to it.
- aquatic biome
- A biome in water, such as an ocean, lake, river, or wetland.
- brackish
- A mix of fresh water and salt water, like where a river meets the sea.
- tropical forest
- A warm, very rainy forest near the equator with the most kinds of living things.
- temperate forest
- A forest with four seasons, where many trees lose their leaves in fall.
- cold desert
- A dry biome with cold winters, like the Gobi Desert.
- hot desert
- A dry biome that is hot most of the year, like the Sahara.
- grassland
- A biome covered mostly by grasses, with few trees.
- taiga
- A cold forest of evergreen trees with long, snowy winters.
- tundra
- A very cold, treeless biome where the ground below the surface stays frozen.
- abiotic
- Nonliving parts of an environment, like sunlight, water, and soil.
- biotic
- Living parts of an environment, like plants and animals.
- biodiversity
- The variety of different living things in an area.
- dynamic
- Always changing.
- species
- A group of organisms that are alike and can have offspring together.
- global climate patterns
- Large, long-lasting patterns of temperature and rainfall around the world.
- population growth
- An increase in the number of individuals in a population.
- finite resources
- Resources that are limited and can run out.
- limiting factor
- Something that keeps a population from growing larger, like food, water, or space.
- proliferate
- To grow or spread quickly in number.
- environmental factors
- Conditions around an organism, like temperature or rainfall, that affect how it lives.
- depletion
- Using something up until little or none is left.
- parasite
- An organism that lives on or in another organism and harms it.
Warm-up words to review
Words from earlier grades that help with this unit.
- population
- All the members of one species living in one area.
- food web
- Many connected food chains showing who eats whom in an ecosystem.
- producer
- An organism that makes its own food, like a plant.
- atomic theory
- The idea that all matter is made of tiny particles called atoms.
- cell theory
- The idea that all living things are made of cells.
- organelle
- A small part inside a cell that has a special job.
- mitochondria
- Organelles that release energy from food.
- chloroplast
- The organelle where photosynthesis happens.
- consumer
- An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms.
- predator
- An animal that hunts and eats other animals.
- prey
- An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.
- soil type
- A kind of soil, like sand, silt, or clay, with its own texture and nutrients.