Flow+In+Nature

The Water Cycle - Water from the ocean gets heated and evaporates in the air into the atmosphere.
 * __Evaporation__**

__**Transpiration**__ - Water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil.

- The vapor rises into the air into cooler temperaure in the clouds. Air currents move the cluds around and them the clouds collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation.
 * __Condesation__**

- After vapor has been condensed it falls out of the sky as snow, rain, hail, or sleet.
 * __Precipitation__**

- Precipitation flows over the ground as surface run-off. Some of the run-off enters rivers in valleys.
 * __Surface Run-off__**

- This is when run-off gets soaked into the gorund insead of flowing into rivers.
 * __Infiltration__**

== = = The Food Chain __**The Sun**__ The core of every organism’s interaction with the enviornment is its need for energy to power life’s processes. The sun is the first step in the food chain. It is the main energy source for life on earth.

__**Producers**__ Autotrophs are organisms that make food for themselves. Autotrophs use light energy from the sun to power chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy-rich carbohydrates such as sugars and starches.

__**Consumers**__ Heterotrophs obtain food from others. There are four types of heterotrophs: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers.

__**Herbivores**__ Herbivores are usually the second step in the food chain. Herbivores obtain energy by eating only plants.

__**Carnivores**__ The third step of the food chain are the carnivores. Carnivores are things that obtain energy by eating other animals.

__**Omnivores**__ Omnivores squeeze somewhere in between the carnivores and herbivore because of their eating habits. Omnivores are animals that obtain energy by eating both plants and animals.

__**Decomposers**__ Decomposers are the last step of the food chain. After the energy has traveled from the sun all the way to the carnivores it is left behind for the decomposers. After an animal dies, decomposers feed off the dead bodies in order to obtain energy.